Housekeeping

Housekeeping

The theme for this summer is housekeeping. Marilyne Robinson figures in as a prophetic voice, in her novel and the movie based on it. I have been skipping some social dates and holing up in my camp here, getting a handle on housekeeping. Most of the year life is too busy to do more than barely keep the kitchen counter clean. Now there’s time for cleaning out cobwebs from corners, rats’ nests of stuff from counters, desktop, shelves. Maybe it’s a lifelong project for me. I never learned it when I should have. I never dusted, swept, scrubbed, organized stuff. I never made plans, kept calendars. What did I do all those years? I amused myself and kept out of trouble, mainly. Did my upbringing equip me for the adult world? Yes and no. It developed in me the inner resources to amuse myself almost endlessly. But it didn’t give me the “skills” needed to live a competent adult life in our culture.

So rather than psychotherapy, let’s try housekeeping. The month of June is your month. Turn off all alarms, take the phone off the hook, latch the door. Open only to insiders. Go to ball games and picnics, but mainly clean your house. You will be very happy all next year if you get this done! Make your own plans, and tell people, “I have plans, sorry.”