Simple: Clean

"People posting 'you have no excuse for your house not being clean after this quarantine' status obviously aren't trapped indoor with their womb gremlins." -@abbythechew, Twitter

Cleaning has taken on a whole new meaning for most of us these days. Personally when I first realized that Coronavirus was actually a THING and I'd better whip my house in shape, I all but cried thinking about many times I already felt futile about cleaning house with two preschoolers running around (one potty-trained, one not).

Now the pressure was quadrupled

After I went ahead and wept (or ate potato chips, I forget which one I did first), I went ahead and did laundry. I wiped some doorknobs and light switches. I started just doing the next thing. It wasn't exactly a deep clean, but it was a start.

Since having kids, cleaning is more of a challenge than the heady days of 4 hour cleaning marathons sans kids, with time enough to enjoy it before it all fell apart a week later (rather than five minutes later, as it so often feels now), but I know it's value is still simple, if not always easy. It's just necessary. Now, more than ever.

So I try to keep it simple. Just start. Just do something. Just take care of this little place called home and these little people called my family.

Sometimes I think about a pastor who quoted Martin Luther, (I think, though I can't find it), saying that the peasant who tilled manure well did as much good as a Biblical scholar, if for no other reason than clearing the sinuses. I laugh as I wipe potties and air the stench of bodily odors and Lysol out the bathroom windows. My sinuses are clear and I'm serving my family. It's all good. It's all necessary.

Simple, but not easy sometimes.

So I start again. I cleaned bathrooms today. And I'll do it again tomorrow.