One of the very few things that my wife and I disagree about is cleaning.
Since I was forcibly retired, I've cleaned the house. By guy standards, I do a decent job. By my wife's standards -- well, she does appreciate what I do. Its not as good as she would do, though, if she had the time. For a while, that was a minor sore spot with me, because I thought she was being critical of how I did it. Now, I know that she really isn't; it's just that if she were doing it, she'd do more. Dust, clean the windows, mop the ceiling, that sort of thing.
We realized, after a while, that she literally can see dirt that I cannot. Part of it is my vision -- I have some difficulty seeing minor contrasts (for example, our television has red channel display numbers against black; I can't read them) and the ability to see dust is in large part the ability to see minor contrasts -- and part of it is standards -- I just don't think that minor dust is a problem, whereas she does- if not per se, then as an indicator of future problems if not addressed now. I do recognize that this is possible. It's just not a big deal to me.
When I left the Air Force, I mentioned to the wife of a friend that I rarely cleaned (ie, dust, mop) the room, and never cleaned behind the big armchair that had come with the room. Surely not never! she exclaimed, and I offered to let her come over to my room to see. Which she did. She leaned over the armchair, peered behind it, and said "My god -- you weren't kidding!" My feeling was, I couldn't see it back there, it wasn't hurting me, so what was the point? She, obviously, felt differently. My wife does, too.
Wherever it comes from, its something that I have to work to be sensitive to. About. Concerning. Whatever....
You can come clean our house if you want. We'd be tickled to have you!
ReplyDeleteOur attitude toward cleaning is about the same as what a friend of mine said once, relative to her (Protestant) and her husband (Catholic) and getting up to go to church: Neither of them wanted to do it, but only he would feel badly if he didn't.
ReplyDeleteMy wife will spontaneously clean. I try very hard not to say 'what in the world are you doing?', because it's important to her, even if it isn't as important to me.
I will keep your offer in mind, should the need to practice on someone else's house arise. How do you feel about having a ShopVac and hose being used in the living room?
I'm for it -- so long as I'm not the one lugging it around!
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