Cleaning

12 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

"And make sure your room gets cleaned up - it's Monday."

"Why does your mom need your room cleaned up on a Monday?" I ask.

"Tuesday is when we have someone come to clean the house," my friend replies.

I think I kept my jaw closed, but inside I was a whirl of questions. Someone else cleans your house? You have to clean up your room to have your house cleaned? Isn't that redundant? Someone else cleans your house?!

That conversation, in high school, opened my eyes to a world that I had no idea existed. When I was in college I actually took a job cleaning someone's house twice a month to make some money toward a financial goal I had set.

Also in college I had a friend who cleaned someone's house. What struck me about those conversations was the fact that they were required to vacuum so ALL of the vacuum lines ran parallel. What?! I can understand in large, open parts of a room, but how do you even do that with furniture everywhere? And, there couldn't be any footprints when they were finished.

When we moved overseas hiring someone as a 'helper' was part of the culture, the norm for expats. We balked at the idea. We were scraping pennies together at that point in our lives; luxuries included paying for haircuts and going to the movies. We didn't do either. 

After a couple of paychecks we realized that we could incorporate a helper into our budget and hired someone to come in once a week for four hours. She mopped all of the dust off our marble floors, cleaned the bathrooms, and made us a meal. We thought we were in heaven.

The following year we realized we could afford to have her come twice a week. The next year we added yet another day. The main thing was the dust. Living in Amman, where no one has air conditioning, you open your windows to cool off the house. Every evening as the sun goes down, about 7 p.m., a lovely breeze would start. It was fantastic for bringing down the temperature, but horrible when it came to dust. (Even with the windows closed, our windows were single pane, and only mostly kept some of the dust out.) You could have dusted and mopped twice a day and still have had a dusty home. Nevertheless, we loved our time in Jordan and appreciated having Anual working for us.

Our fantastic experience with a helper hasn't meant that we have always had help overseas. At times, due to circumstances within a country, part-time household help isn't available. Thankfully our first transition back to doing it ourselves was with in a home with wall-to-wall carpeting. Upon the next move we had both taken pay cuts to live somewhere amazing. Our second year there we decided to pay for piano lessons for our daughter and clean the house ourselves.

We are back to having a helper once a week. And I am now saying to my daughter, "Make sure your room gets cleaned up - it's Monday."

Reflections on Daylight Savings Time

11 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

There are many reasons that one might have varying opinions regarding Daylight Savings Time. 

How far north or south you live impacts your thoughts. The closer to the equator you life the more consistent the length of your days is, therefore the change does not have the same impact it does for those who live closer to the poles. So is it a surprise that Hawaii, the state closest to the equator, last changed in 1945 - long before they were a state? (Florida is legislating a change to Standard Time, though there are legal challenges.)

If you have ever lived somewhere that doesn't change the clock on two random days per year, your opinion will change. Once you realize that life does go on without the major interruption imposed by humans, you may just find the lack of change refreshing.

What you believe to be the origins and reason for the practice impact one's thoughts. I know that reading this New York Times article challenged what I had believed for multiple decades. Had you been told it had to do with farming? I sure had.

Then there are the years we have lived in places that could have three different dates to change their clocks - all within the span of one weekend - for bordering countries. (Managing public transport was the biggest challenge to navigating that one!)

Currently the greatest change impacting my life is how I play "Time Zone Bingo". I have regular meetings across the globe. As we enter the season of time changes I have to double and triple check when each place does or doesn't change their clocks.

And finally, as I sat down to write this, I realized that I had never noticed that light takes hold over darkness during Lent, when we are preparing for Light to overcome.

"In The Midst"

10 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

"In The Midst"

A bottle

of milk

on the Communion Table

Breast Feeding

while receiving a

blood transfusion

The promise

of Easter

in the midst

of Lent

Light

overcoming

Darkness

Post Script: 

One of the things that the March Challenge does for me, and many other writers, is encourage us to look for inspiration everywhere. Today's comes from the poem, "The Children's Sermon" by Ann Weems.

It's Just A Number

9 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

There are numbers you look forward to. A 1st birthday. 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 30, 40... 

This birthday is a number I was excited about - a number I could really get behind. Unfortunately I'm three years too young. 

If this was 2015 I could post "#45" everywhere. Unfortunately it now has a different connotation.

Sigh.

I still plan to have a great year. I still think it is a cool age. It's just no longer a hashtag I can cheer about.

Random Thought On Twins

8 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

I'm reading The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. One of the characters is a midwife, which brings us, the reader, into many of the culture and taboos of this particular people group. At first some of them seem horrific. When I try to emotionally detach myself and objectively look at how such customs might have started I am able to see possibilities. One is about twins. Twins are seen as "human rejects" are not allowed to survive. My understanding is that the twins' likelihood of surviving is small and the risk to the mother is great. When you think about primitive living, this could be something that protects the genepool. 

I have found the treatment of twins by this culture to be disturbing, even if I can understand how it might have come to be. This part of the book continues to linger with me. The idea of twins has been on my mind. I have realized I have other thoughts about twins.

***

Ding-Dong. As I open the door, my friend materializes in tears. I pull her into a long embrace and usher her inside the apartment. Once she is able to collect herself she shares the heart wrenching news that she has miscarried. I cry with her.

She sees me off as I leave on a many month long journey. About a month in I receive a letter from her. (This is back when letters were the way people communicated across distances.) Yes, she had miscarried, but she had been pregnant with twins and the other baby was growing safely inside her.

***

Two births, four kids, all under the age of three. We have friends with TWO sets of fraternal twins. 

And another dear friend who, just as she was willing to think about possibly trying for the third child her husband was hoping for, she found herself pregnant. You guessed it, twins.

***

I grew up knowing three sets of twins. Two were older than me and I didn't really know them personally. The third set were classmates of mine. They were fraternal twins (OK, they still are) and I never understood how people could get them mixed up. Not only did they look different, their personalities were different. One other thing that stood out to me, as I think back on my childhood memories, is how people would be amused when they would fight. Why was this so? They would fight like I suppose all sisters do. (I only have brothers, so I can't speak from first hand experience.) 

Yes, random thoughts indeed.

Spin. A Verb. To Whirl Around Quickly

7 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

"Who wants to be play tag? Who wants to play tag? Who wants to play tag?" come the sing-songy voices of several first graders from the primary playground outside my windows.

This audible signal reminds me that I should head to the staff room and reunite with my lunch bag. I sit for a moment more, my hand resting on my orange desk, as the world spins.

This is the fourth time since Thursday that vertigo has creeped into my life. Vertigo and I are friends, but not usually ones who hang out this often.

Before lunch I start the process to meet with my neurosurgeon. Let's see if I can spin in time with the rest of you instead of this silliness.

Spine Slice

6 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

Liz inspired me with her post. I could instantly see me surrounded by a various piles in different heights as I hunted for the perfect combination. In the end I went with this...