Cleaning Like Momma

CLEANING LIKE MOMMA

By: Andrea Moore

​     When I was growing up in the 1980s Saturday mornings were the best. I would get up at 7:30 am, make myself the largest bowl of fruit loops cereal, and sit in front of the television for 3 hours of Fred, Barney and the rest of the cartoons that displayed for youth my age. While this was happening, my mother happily turned on her old Southern spirituals and dusted and swept to her favorite gospel tunes. After having my breakfast I would join her, and would be anxious to do so. Me and mom would mop the floors, she would let me dust the furniture with “the spray” as I called it, and we would wipe down every inch of our home. Soon, the house smelled like pine sol and lemon pledge, a smell that still brings back fond memories.

     Unfortunately now my Saturday mornings are filled with meetings, charitable events, and appointments. Saturday morning housework has turned into spot cleaning to ensure my house is not completely destroyed. However, there are still dishes in the dishwasher, clothes in the hamper that need to be washed, and I’m sure my daughter’s bathroom trash is about to take itself out.

Furthermore, my inability to “clean like my momma”, really begin to weigh on me and I started questioning my mothering skills. Shouldn’t my floors be clean enough to eat on? Shouldn’t everything have a place? Shouldn’t every inch of my house shine and glow like my mommas?

     These questions haunted me until I looked at my now 70 something year old mother and viewed her new life. She is now retired, gets up at noon, has lunch, goes back to bed or completes charitable or schoolwork, has dinner, cleans her items, and back to bed. Her routine from my youth has completely changed. Not only because of her age, but also because life has changed.

​     For lunch she can call doordash, so there is no cooking or cleaning. Sometimes her community events are online, sometimes she must leave the house. Even her church services can be viewed online now. Subsequently, I had to look at my life and take some of the strain off of myself. Its 2023, where television stays on 24/7, people can contact you for work from anywhere, at anytime of day, and since there is so much to do in life now time is very limited.

​     Therefore, I look at my life and take a sigh of relief. I am a business owner, mother of 2, grandparent of 3, mentor, accountant, cleaner, advocate, speaker, and more. So, the fact that I may not be the best homemaker is something that I can now get over!