Day One of summer vacation arrived with the theme song to “Rocky” ba-bum-bum-bum-bumming in my head.  I awoke to Harper running into our room, “PopPop, when you are finished sleeping, will you get up and make me some sausage?”  We had to get up anyway because it’s cleaning day and we had not tidied before going to bed.  Up and at ’em…before my first cup of coffee, I was showered, had towels chugging in the washer, and the bath and bedroom tidied.  Meanwhile, John was prepping the kitchen for a good cleaning by fixing pancakes and sausage. (Could be worse, he could have made bacon.)

During the school year, tidying means leaving the house so that police would not consider it a crime scene.  Come summer, a voice in the recesses of my brain reminds me that I take pleasure in a beautiful and orderly home.  So this morning, with “Rocky” thumping in my head, Harper leaping around the house, and caffeine finally coursing through my veins, the little voice was shouting to be heard.  Each act of tidying revealed something else that needed to be dealt with.  Summer was not off to a very relaxing beginning.

Ah…but by 10 a.m. I was ready to sit on the porch with my second cup of coffee.  Shelley and Harper were off to playgroup.  John went to Tractor Supply.  I had the house to myself.  One final act remained to make the tidy house ready…some fresh cut flowers.  Away with the fake daffodil in the bathroom.  Today called for arrangements of carnation, chamomile, fennel, and thyme.  In the bedroom, my great-grandmother’s juice glass added an heirloom touch of elegance to the garden herbs.  I placed the flowers next to DoodaBear, a teddy bear made from my grandmother’s fur coat.  Together, the freshness of the flowers and the tradition of the glass and the bear made me feel content and grounded.  What more could I ask from Day One of summer?

DoodaBear