Growing Versions

 Parents of children who are older than 10 years old like me may think that cradling is no longer part of the job description.... ...but it very much is.  As our kids learn to walk away from us and grow past us, we cradle them with carefully chosen words, holding our bodies just so so that we can absorb the scariness of a dream or by sweeping away yesterday's mess so today's can be born. The other day, my mom asked me lovingly.  "When was the last time you went for a swim? You should go."  Her cradling work continues.

"There was a way that you could sleep properly when a house had been straightened up, when all the Ranger Ricks were put up on the shelf and the toys were put in the plastic box and tomorrow's clothes were laid out neatly on a chair. But then again, when everything was left out all over the floor and the dishes were still in the sink, there was a way that you could dream." -Lullabies for Little Criminals (Heather O'Neill)

Spring cleaning is about taking off the wool blankets, airing them out and packing them away.  Spring cleaning is about remembering and behaving as if, we need less. Less clothes, fewer shoes, fewer drawings, fewer broken toys, and crumbs, and magazines, and furniture, and food, and Christmas trees (long story), less Netflix. We need less. Now, let's prove it.