Compulsory Cleaning

Why is it that every major event in my life must be heralded by compulsory cleaning?

Take being pregnant, for example. In the weeks leading up to my due date with Caleb, I dusted, vacuumed, windexed, vacuumed again. Like somehow, if I had the baby early and my house wasn't perfectly clean or perfectly organized, I would be an unfit mother.

Now I know you will blame that on nesting. All pregnant women do that to some degree.

But I also clean like a maniac in the days preceding a big trip. Like our trip to Washington tomorrow. Do the dishes. Clean out the fridge. Do the dishes again. Heck, I even pulled out my photo scrapping stuff and organized it yesterday while I watched Phantom. Go figure. If I'd had time, I would've filed paperwork, cleaned off my desk, taken recycleables to the trash place, and changed Caleb's sheets.

All those things were on my To Do List. All of them could wait til we get back. And they're going to have to. Because I have characteristically packed too much into my day, and now I must choose between packing and mopping the kitchen floor. Packing wins, I'm afraid. A clean floor is nice, but having something to wear when I get to WA will be, uh, much nicer.

Why do I care so much? Why is it that I prepare for trips, babies, and anything else big with all this cleaning and organizing?? It's not as if, when we get from WA in a week, the house won't still be here. It's not as if when I come home, I will have lost the ability to clean. And tomorrow, when I'm on a plane headed north with my two favoritest people in the world, will the dusty coffee table really bother me? Nope.

*Sigh* One of life's little mysteries I guess. Or maybe just one of Nicole Neuhauser's little mysteries.

Anyway, friends, I'm off! I prolly will not post again till we get back. Don't worry, the camera is packed.

Washington, here we come!