A Clean House

Suzanne used to tell me that she enjoyed cleaning the house. She would say, “I don’t mind cleaning the house if you will… (insert chore here).”

Over this past weekend, I celebrated the first anniversary of moving into my own house. I moved in four days after the first death anniversary, so it was a pretty eventful time.

At that time, I also owned a rental property here in my town that housed a family of people I knew. The family included my regular house cleaner, her husband, and their two sons.

They used to come to clean my house twice a month. It was great for me because I didn’t have to do much. And the house was regularly clean, tidy, fresh, and relaxing.

Then, after CoVID hit, they had to stop coming. Now, they no longer live in my rental house, and they can no longer do the cleaning here. My regular cleaner has been ill. She had cancer a number of years ago, and although I do not know the whole of the story, I believe it has returned.

Since March, I have been responsible for cleaning my own home. It’s the first time that I have indeed been in charge of cleaning the whole of a house. And, in all honesty, I cannot for the life of me figure out what Suzanne saw in it. It’s a major pain!

So, today I have a new cleaner coming. It is a milestone for me since I have not had anyone who I haven’t known come to the property to clean. It will be something new and different.

Back when Suzanne was ill, I tried to get a cleaner to come to the house, so it would be clean and tidy when she came back from chemo and other doctor’s appointments. Right now, I would be overjoyed to have that opportunity again. I would love for someone to come and clean the house so that Suzanne didn’t have to even if it meant she had to find another chore to choose for her to perform.

But like the house itself, and my new life in it, this will never happen. I am in the first home that I have ever owned without her. And it’s the first where I have my own cleaner and keep the house as I want it, not like Suzanne would have had it (it’s far too messy too much of the time for her liking). But still, I wonder if she would have liked to keep cleaning this house had she and I moved here together.

Would she still want to clean the house if she knew we could afford to have someone come and do it for us instead? Would she prefer to have done it herself, or would she have let someone else do it?

I know her. She would have cleaned before the cleaner came. Suzanne would never let anyone into the house if it were a mess, not even the cleaners. And guess what? I spent last night cleaning and tidying tonight in anticipation of the cleaner coming this morning. Just like Suzanne would have done.

Jeff Ziegler insights appear every two weeks, here on WSN-MO.  You can write to him at [email protected]. Cell: 1-415-623-8772. Email: [email protected]  LinkedIn Profile URL: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffziegler