Friday, January 18, 2008

Three Word Wednesday - Cleaning Maniac

Awkward
Kitchen
Obsessed

You know what they say about mother in-laws? It is all true. Petty and jealous, efficient and capable, scheming and controlling and much more all rolled into one! Carol's mother in-law is visiting one week after Christmas. She is just married for about 6 months and her mother in-law (MIL) chose to visit the week that she knew Carol would be recuperating from the festive mood and her house is in shambles. Would she be able to live up to the standard of utter neatness and the sparkling glass surfaces of tables that her mother in-law's house always seem to be? Sometimes when no one is looking, Carol would secretly swipe her fingers at the corners of her mother in law's shelves and tables just to satisfy her curiosity about whether her MIL would cut corners and not clean every inch. She was miserable. Her MIL's house is impeccable. It is as if her MIL is obsessed with cleanliness or something.

So there Carol is toiling and cleaning, washing and mopping in her kitchen when the doorbell rang. Carol gasped and glance frantically at the clock. Is that her, could it be, that her MIL is here already? Carol is not expecting her until another 3 hours time! Carol could almost feel tears springing from her eyes. She would have to face the wrath of her mother in-law now. There would be looks of disapproval and endless lectures of how a housewife is suppose to do her duties.

With heavy heart, she went to open her door. To her surprise, her husband is standing at the door grinning from ear to ear. He brought along his football pals to help clean the house. He knew Carol would be all nervous and working her behind off anticipating his mother's arrival. Although feeling a little awkward at having these huge guys around, Carol gratefully hand over the mop and pail. She reminded herself how and why she fell in love the son of a cleaning maniac.


7 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the piece, especially the first and last paragraph.
    This is funny "She reminded herself how and why she fell in love the son of a cleaning maniac."

    ReplyDelete
  2. my children can never get married now ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just stopping by to let you know I finally completed the tag! Sorry it's taken so long.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute :) Wonder if football players really know how to clean... or if they just make a bigger mess?

    One thing I've never gotten out of the mother-in-law dynamic... most even MILs once had (or still do have) an evil MIL of her own... why act like that when they remember how it feels? Uff da! Doesn't anyone believe in the golden rule anymore?

    (Don't answer that question.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Must have learned this technique from good old mom. Good story. Hope you enjoy mine.

    ReplyDelete