The German In Me

My Dad is coming to visit me and Spurs tomorrow. I have been (as Spurs says) cleaning like a German all day today. My Mom is 100% German and I have inherited all of her cleaning eccentricity. My Mom would clean like no one's business. It was her Mom's fault or maybe just the German way. My Grandmother was ruthless. She lived in an apartment house where we went to visit her for several summers while we were young and you would walk up concrete steps to get to her apartment. Once a week she would bleach those concrete steps with a mop throughout each floor. Every tenant took a turn during the week. The laundry was in the attic of the apartment house and I have very fond memories of following my grandmother up to the attic when I was young and it smelled so good, the fresh laundry would be hanging by clothes pins on lines throughout the huge attic and I loved it. Just the fresh air coming through the windows that didn't have screens (you won't find screens anywhere in Europe) and the green rolling hills and the strawberry fields in the garden where we would go pick strawberries and eat them right out of the ground because no pesticides were used. I have very fond memories of my visits to Germany as well as my visits to England where my Sister lived for 6 years.

My Dad met my Mom while he was stationed in Germany with the Air Force and swept her off of her feet and brought her to the States. Throughout my life any house we lived in, military or our own was always spotless. Every floor, crack and base board was clean enough to eat off of. That had a big impression on me. Granted when I was a teenager I could have cared less. My Mom was horrified by the piles of clothes in my room and the state of my bathroom but she would always tidy up and clean the bathrooms so they would be sparkling. This is how I grew up.

So during my first marriage I was paranoid about everything being spotless. Probably because that was the brightest point I could focus on, having a clean house. After the divorce and living with my Dad for a while I slacked off a lot. Then when I married Spurs I wasn't the same with keeping everything so clean that you could eat off of the floor. I do clean once a week but it's usually a light cleaning and then the deep cleaning happens at least once or twice a month. Sometimes I get restless because I don't have a job right now so my creative side also directs me to clean and rearrange my space.

When I found out that my Dad was coming to visit for the week I got up this morning really early as Spurs was leaving to go out of town for a short business trip so I saw him off and then directly started to clean. It's like I was channeling my Mom, because I cleaned like I have never cleaned before.

When my Dad finally retired from working overseas in Saudi Arabia after 15 years (after retiring from the Air Force my Dad could not work in the U.S. as an air traffic controller, he could only work in the middle east), my Mom developed brain cancer and had a very large tumor. She had two brain surgeries and all the chemo and radiation that you have when you are in that state. After her second surgery from the second tumor the Doctor's said it would be best just to keep her on morphine and let her go. Her brain was not functioning very well and her short term memory was shot. Her speech and everything else slowly went downhill. My Dad took care of her through the entire process. We did hospice out of their own home with the whole hospital bed, nurse visits and everything. One day towards the end my Dad called all of us to tell us to come to their house. I left work and was there for maybe an hour and a half and we all went in and talked to our Mom who was out of it and was struggling to breathe and then she just slipped away. It always amazes me that he just knew to call us. The hardest part was calling my Sister who lived in England at that time to tell her what happened. I don't have a problem with death. My Mom had suffered enough and I was glad she was in a better place. My oldest brother died in a car accident at 19 (I was young) and hopefully they found one another again. That is my hope.

So on a brighter note, I know that my Dad is used to a very clean house and hopefully he will find ours to his liking. My Dad and I haven't really gotten to know each other very well due to his many years overseas and the fact that I am the very youngest. My next sibling is six years older than I am. He has always been there for me to provide whatever support he could and he has always provided for our entire family while being in not the best conditions living in saudi arabia for a very long time, just so he could earn a good living to provide for us.

I'm so glad that he is coming for a visit and I'm sure we will have a great time!! At least I know my home is very clean and comfortable. I will attempt to cook him a good meal tomorrow night (who knows how that will turn out). Once Spurs gets back home the food will be much better :)