The very first personal column I penned for the Mandan News so many years ago was titled “Cleaning up the Little Girl.”
My daughter was in middle school. One day, after work, I went to her bedroom and caught her furiously cleaning. She earned some extra cash cleaning houses and seemed to enjoy cleaning our home.
That day, amidst the flurry of the dust mop there were bags of “stuff blocking the door to her bedroom. I asked her what she was doing.
“I’m cleaning up the little girl.”
I was taken by surprise. Oh my, already. It can’t be time for her to give up being a little girl. She was my first-born. It was touching.
I chuckled and then wrote about our conversation. That column kicked off my personal column-writing career which evolved into writing books, and blogs and keeping notes everywhere.
Fast forward about 30 years.
So many years, what happened? How did I get this old? My children grew up and have children of their own.
It is the way, and I enjoy those grandchildren. It’s fun watching them grow. It’s much different than watching your own. I see things in their development I missed when I cared for my little children.
Recently, I discovered a familiar pattern.
It starts with school’s out for the summer. The Magnificent Miss Elle came to stay for a week at her dad’s in Bismarck.
As usual, upon rising, on Monday morning I checked my phone. There was this thread sent at 9:41 p.m. the evening before. I am usually in bed, reading, or sleeping by this time. But in the morning, around 6 a.m. I found this —
Elle: hi guys!! are you free tomorrow at 10:30? we could go get coffee!
Lucy: My mom wouldn’t be able to drop me off at 10:30, but she could at eleven or if you could pick me up ten thirty would work
Elle: let’s see what grandma says if she is able to pick us up at 10:30
I laughed out loud. I was tickled pink. Of course, to be included. I replied I would love to meet them in Bismarck, but first I had a meeting at 9 a.m., so I suggested lunch instead. Then, we went to coffee at their favorite place, Starbucks.
It was awesome. It’s so much fun to watch those two interact and hear the things they talk about. Somedays the language they use is foreign to me, but I do learn a bit about popular slang from them in case I need it for a Jeopardy question.
During the conversation, after school, golf, cars, opps (there’s one of those words), and boys, the subject of helping Grandma Sue BB clean the house came up.
During my recent stay in Huron, I witnessed Elle cleaning the cabin and I was totally impressed.
She said she loved cleaning. Lucy followed suit. That day, I ended up with two housekeepers scheduled to arrive on Thursday.
They showed up early, coffee cups in hand, and turned on the tunes (which surprising to me were Golden Oldies from the 70s. The fun began with me showing them cleaning supplies, mops, and off-limits areas in the house. Once settled, I went outside to weed.
A couple of hours later, my house smelled great and looked neat. It was so appreciated. Of course, as they straightened up, they arranged things poetically and placed lit candles everywhere for a delightful presentation of their work. The only downside, we are still looking for some things.
It’s all good.
As a reward, I paid them generously and took them to Target to shop. Watching two different personalities cruise the make-up, jewelry, and clothing aisles was such a joy. One of them spent nearly all of her cash, the other was a bit more conservative and took some change home with her.
I saw both my children in that moment.
At the day’s end, I wonder if all little girls must go through this housekeeping phase. A time in their life when they “clean” up the little girl and move on to the next phase of growing up.
The only tragedy is the desire to clean doesn’t last too long.
Less than two weeks later, one of them received her first car but needs to do driver’s ed first (and observe another birthday), and the other one already completed driver’s ed, has a job lined up for the fall, and is looking for a vehicle.
Heaven forbid, I said, they are getting cars and jobs and then what comes next — dating, proms, and college.
I’m not ready for this.
In my heart, I would like to keep my house cleaners a little bit longer. It makes me sad to think those girls will soon be independent.
My saving grace — they both have two-year-old siblings, so I can begin observing again, God willing I have another 13 years.
Next week, I will be pondering what goes on in the mind of a two-year-old.
INDYchildrendotme 
Leave a comment