The Discipline of Cleaning

I'm thankful that I've thus far lived a life of comfort. My family is lucky to have always had help on doing the basic chores, to cook and clean for us, to wash our laundry, etc. etc... its a real easy privilege to take for granted and likely I have in the past.

But I try my best to stay grounded and do, in my own small way, my own contribution to keeping an organized household. There are just some things I'd prefer to do myself. Unfortunately making my own bed ain't one of them.

I know my weekend chores are but a pinch to everything our helpers do on a daily basis but I still get a hint of satisfaction whenever I do them. Take bathing Belle for instance. I've done it religiously since the day she came home with us from the kennel, except for the few Sundays that I was away from home. I can't imagine anyone else scrubbing her ass clean because I'm the only person who'd literally dare do that. Of course, she resents me whenever I do but who else will meticulously pick off the crap stuck on her backside's hair other than me? Nasty details aside, I enjoy knowing that fact that my dog is soaped and groomed well on a weekly basis and that only I can soap and groom her right.

My other chore is cleaning my fish tank. Now this is one task I don't really like to do, but someone's gotta bite the bullet every few weeks and its no one else but me. Although I never really did ask for my own aquarium, Papa just assigned me one when he and Achi decided to revive all three tanks at the same time. What was a girl to do but sigh, "Okay." Scrubbing the glass clean is one thing, but its the cleaning out of the filter that can be a real headache.

Have you ever cleaned out the filter of an aquarium filled with 7 goldfish and 5 angels? They can produce muck like a school of sardines! But, after the ordeal, I always sit in front of my tank and watch my fish revel in the new clean. I swear, after every cleaning, they swim faster. I guess the freshly oxygenated water really liven them up.

I know not everyone can live the way my family and I are used to, and I try in my own way to be reminded of that. There's a certain discipline in doing chores no one asked of you to do: one learns of levels of responsibility and independence that no book or teacher can ever impart.

Wonder what sort of thing I can clean this fine Sunday afternoon...