Sunday Surprise

This past weekend was all about work…homework and housework. Lucie never, and I mean never, cleans. It’s not that she’s dirty - she doesn’t leave her dishes laying around and she wipes out the tub after she showers and she occasionally washes the laundry - but she is very messy. Her bedroom is just a pile of clothes and jewelry and shoes and magazines all over the floor and on her bed. But she keeps the door closed so I don’t have to see it.

I am usually the one to clean. Does that surprise anyone at all? I use that Easy-Off stuff in the oven so that cleans itself and I pour bleach in the sinks and on the floor. I do whatever I have to but as simply as I can. No wasted energy.

But not this weekend. This weekend Aaron was coming for a visit with his friend, Derek. So Lucie wanted the place spotless. We vacuumed the rugs and dusted the knickknacks (not that we have many - you tend to lose a lot of that stuff when you move around so we just don’t even bother with it) and Lucie actually scrubbed the toilet! Inside and out! Yuck! I told her I would do the entire kitchen if she would do that and she did. Shockingly.

By Sunday afternoon, the whole apartment looked and smelled great. The weather was really warm so we had all the windows open and since the days are longer, it was light out until past 7. At around 4:30, we kicked back and had iced coffees and toasted our hard work. Lucie was probably in the best mood I have seen her in a long time. We put on some tunes and she was dancing and singing with the broom. And then I would change the music really fast, like from rock to opera, and she would change along with it. It was hilarious!

But then, the phone rang. Aaron couldn’t come because his car broke down and Derek’s car was also in the shop but when Lucie offered to come get them, he said no, because it would be a lot of time on the road and he and Derek needed to be up early for a rehearsal or something. Lucie got off the phone and she looked really sad and I thought for sure she would cry or yell or something but you know what she did? She smiled and she said the place looked awesome and then she thanked me for helping her. That’s it. No tears, no anger. And then we walked to the video store and rented “Stranger Than Fiction,” which was pretty good and pretty funny and we bought a pizza and ate the whole thing.

It was a good night.