One Month

Today marks the fourth week since I began staying home and it seems that I've accomplished very little getting my house back in order. For the last three and a half years if I wasn't at the office, my spare-time was dedicated to my mother who was suffering from cancer, my mother in-law's cancer, or my father's deep depression, which soon followed after the loss of my mother. During the peak of our parental illnesses, my husband and I held onto each other, cherishing the few minutes a day we had together, knowing without words what needed to be done. Everything else was put on the back-burner, left to be handled at a later time except the bare necessities of our existence. One parent survived, one did not. With-in eight months of my mother's passing, dad developed his own cancer and his liver began to fail. Now a third round of doctor visits, hospital visits, surgeries and countless hours away from work and home. I soon found myself so exhausted I didn't care for much of anything. Like the dishes sitting in the sink for a couple of days or if the dust grew an inch thick, I would get to it later. So, three and a half years down the road and Later has arrived. All the detailed cleaning (walls, windows, curtains, carpets, floors, cob-webs, etc.) that I pushed-off is here, waiting for me, just as I imagined. One month home, one room thoroughly cleaned and a Honey-do list a mile long. Good grief! I think I might miss the office! At least there I could bury myself with excuses as to why my house was so messy and why there wasn't enough time left in the day to finish (or start) the Honeydoes.