Clean Up! - The maid is coming
I have heard it in movies and on TV sitcoms and thought why? Yet, this very week I found myself thinking the same line; (not uttering it out loud lest I be guilty of talking to myself, a sign of dementia,) “I have to clean up, the maid is coming.”
I emptied wastebaskets in the bathroom, bedroom, and den. I put dishes in the dishwasher and organized the napkins on top of the table. Some clean pots and pans on the stove went into a nearby cabinet. I put a three or four day trove of newspapers into a paper bag and later took the bag to the trash dumpster. I took bath and hand towels and a face cloth and put them in the clothes hamper to be washed later. I picked up slippers and shoes and organized them in a closet. I adjusted the window blinds in the open position and straightened up the bed covers. Then satisfied that all was satisfactory I left my apartment, locked the door, posted a note to the maid that the key was in the rental office and went out to face the day.
Why do people always clean up for the maid? Why did I do it? Isn’t this her job?
My first wife and I were married 56 years and we had five children. I had a government job and there was no money for a maid. After her death I re-married and my second wife didn't want a maid “because it is easier to do it myself.” When she died I hired a maid who came every two weeks.
Then I moved and rented an apartment and my cost of living went up. Initially, I cleaned the apartment myself, including vacuuming carpet and washing wood floors. Then I tired of it and hired a maid service.
So now on the first Friday of each month, I find myself uttering, “I have to clean up the maid is coming.”
