lana taught me to always clean the house before leaving on vacation.

when i was a little girl, i always remember the absolute cleaning frenzy that happened right before we left for a family vacay. we all had to have our rooms cleaned and clothes hung up ( a really hard thing for mindi in her teenage years) and my mom would have the house vacuumed and scrubbed and shining like the chrysler building.

i also remember complaining and whining wondering why were we cleaning? and this is dumb!! lana would just smile and say in her sweet, cheerful voice, "won't it be nice to come home to a clean house? it will feel so good!" i didn't buy it for a second as there was really nothing in my life that was clean or orderly and i didn't think it would feel any different than not cleaning.  wtf.

then russ and i got married and moved into a teensy-tinsy studio-type apartment in the back office of a motel--we were the night managers (translation: nobody on the front desk after 11pm, and people would just ring a bell and poor russ would have to drag his butt to the window. brutal. but free rent.) and i worked for skywest airlines, so we had lots of opportunities to fly places on the weekends.

one weekend before flying out the house was a wreck.  dishes, clothes, clutter, dirty bathroom--the whole works. we said, "what the heck?", walked out the door and boarded a plane to salt lake and the z dance club and bigger and better things.

 we got home late sunday night, exhausted and cranky after getting bumped off of two different flights from slc to sgu and ending up flying into cedar and having someone come and pick us up, and i walked in and saw THE MESS.

it was 11:00 p.m. and i had to be to work at 5:00.  i didn't have any clean garments left and we forgot to get milk for cereal in the morning and i was exhausted and emotional and i burst into tears when i walked into the bedroom and remembered that we didn't have sheets on our bed and it was simply just too much.  i had a complete melt-down, cried myself to sleep and never left my house messy before a trip again.  EVER. 

now every time we leave the house to travel, which in our business is a little bit more than some, our house is sparkling and shiny and clean. and my kids complain and whine a little--good thing to know that some things never change. and there is still no better feeling in the world than when you come home to a clean crib. also cleaning is good for them and then i don't have to do it but let's not concentrate on that......

so i guess i AM turning into my mother a tiny little bit after all.....which is actually quite lovely because i'm the daughter who is the least like my mother (just ask kenny miller) and i will take any small victory i can.  

now if i can just master lana's sweet driving skills of one foot on the brake and one foot on the pedal........ (not kidding)