On housekeeping

I once met a wonderful artist, who boasted the messiest house I have ever seen. She immediately became my role model.

Before letting anyone into our home, we have to prepare them. We explain that we have three studios, one for clay, one for encaustics and one for oil painting, and where they meet in the middle is an indescribable swirling vortex of dog toys, books from Goodwill, Halloween costumes, found rusty metal, mannequins, and exercise bikes.

Recently we were rescued by a charming man who is also incredibly handy, and seems to be able to do everything with competence and flair. He mastered the art of organization in infancy, I’m pretty sure.

We tried to prepare him before he came inside to meet our broken washing machine.

As he enterred, he exclaimed, “OH! This isn’t that bad! It’s kind of like a museum.”

There must be a punchline here somewhere. Maybe someone will supply one, if they can find it in the swirling vortex that we call home.