Crash Course

What: Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning
Who: Me, A Daughter, A Son-in-law, A Son, A Daughter-in-law, Five Grandkids, Two Visiting Teachers, An Old Room Mate
Why: My daughter is coming home from her mission TODAY
Where: The living room, family room, dining room, kitchen, three bathrooms, play room, daughter's room, guest kitchen, guest entry way/dining room.
How: Tunz of service, perserverance, and "synergy" from some very wonderful people

I've plugged away at my various messes for the past 18 months, but I became acutely aware that "time was up" and I was still standing at first base, so I finally allowed some very incredible service giving people into my life to "help me"........that was the hard part.....admitting that I needed "HELP". I also felt bad about taking their time, impacting their lives----most of all I hated the fact that my actions (or inactions) made it all necessary.

Join me as I take you through the journey of tears, finding treasures forgotten, and a slow rebuilding of the belief I once had in myself. It is painful to admit you have a problem----back-breaking to not give up......and liberating to look back and see what you and the angels in your life have accomplished.

It all started last year my family came and spruced up my very large yard and hauled branches and cut them small enough to be hauled off. It was a day of intense labor.

Then, again this year it started with a daughter being willing to put her life on hold and come for a visit (overnight and into the next day) to help me put together a garage sale. This was NOT something I could have done by myself......would never have happened. She helped me let go of "items" (a seemingly impossible task), she was the buffer at the sale from the people that I just couldn't deal with and the reassurance that I did a really good job even though it only scratched the surface of what I had managed to accumulate. When she drove off, what she left me with was a full cash box and a heartful of renewed belief in myself.

Then there have been the cherished grandkids...the grand daughter with her innocent (but honest) questions about why grandma's house is so messy to the little one's obvious discomfort at the chaos. There was the grandson that pitched in at the garage sale and helped Grandma another day pick up items on the floor and put them in bags. And always---always their endless hugs to let me know that I was "enough" even though my surroundings weren't.

The daughter-in-law who came after a long day herself and helped vacuum, dust, straighten and transport an army of boxes from an upper floor to a lower room to be gone through later---all with a smile. The visiting teachers who, while older, came and taught to me a stick-to-it-ness to getting a hard task done and ended it with a meal of home made stew, their company, and the Relief Society message----. And finally, my room mate . . . someone with many fires to fight in her own life....taking the time to spend a morning with me......who actually spent FIVE hours cleaning at the fastest "white tornado" speed I've ever seen a soul achieve....whew.....(hope it's catching!!!!)

So, before (if I have them) and after pictures will follow. For now, I need to get ready to pick up my daughter from the airport.

And for all of YOU that made it possible for me to feel hope again........I want:
T o
H ug
A ll (the)
N ice
K in (n' the friends too)

Y ou
O nly
U ntangled

S eriously
O verwhelming (clutter and)

M any
U nbelievable
C hores (were)
H andled!!!!!