I Wasn't Always Messy

When we were kids, my mom's house was never dirty, but it often was messy. She had eleven children after all, and when you have that many of us rug rats running around it is inevitable that there were going to be days that the house was in disarray. She never did give in though to the temptation to just let it go. My mom fought a never ending battle to keep an orderly, neat, and clean home right up until the day that the last of her children moved out.

One of my mom's tactics for keeping her home looking good and putting on a good front for visitors was her living room. Other than holidays, and special occasions, my moms living room was off limits. It was pretty much a museum exhibit of how my mom dreamed her home should look, while downstairs in our bedrooms and the 'wreck' room, we were allowed to do the things that kids do. Downstairs we ate junk food on the sofa, put icy beverages on the second hand tables without a coaster, and generally ran amok high on sugar and pubescent adrenalin. Then, come Saturday morning, we were required to clean our bedrooms and the 'wreck' room top to bottom with no prospect of going out to play until it was done.

My mom doesn't have any children living in her home now, and she has finally achieved that museum quality look that she must have craved for all those years her home was crawling with kids. Every time I visit her now, her house is spotless, and not a thing is out of place. No matter though, the same rules apply today as they did when we were kids. She has a separate living room that is never used, and a 'family' room on the other side of the house. After all, she does have somewhere near twenty grandchildren, plus great grandchildren, and they still need a place to 'wreck' when they visit.