Apparently the day after I left for New York for the holidays she came into the house and Cloroxed much of the kitchen and living room/ dining room area. I’m walking a fine line here because as Mama’s granddaughter and new roommate I have acquired new responsibilities. At the same time though, this woman is also alone. She is in her late 50’s/early 60’s and so the sense of responsibility she has over my grandmother is part of her routine and also gives her something to do. The same with my grandmother, I understand that I can’t come in and start doing everything for her. I have to let her make me coffee, walk her dog, yada yada. Those things help to keep her healthy…both mentally and physically.
That being said, I cleaned. Like I cleaned like I have never cleaned in my entire life….8am to about 7pm…only stopping twice to do what else but eat LOL! Hey, I needed my energy! I mopped every room in the house 3 to 4 times…including the former garage that is the length of the whole house…and the dog’s room. I cleaned every ceiling fan, swept, cleaned every mirrored closet (there are a total of 3 in the house)…eventually I’ll get around to asking Mama what the deal is with all the mirrored walls but I really hope I don’t regret asking that question (Haaaa que freca…I’m smacking my own mouth for that one don’t worry). Oh wait the funniest part of that whole day was this…Monday morning I woke up at 7am and had breakfast with Mama. I knew I wanted to clean for her that day but I was a bit worried about offending her or about her trying to help me clean because she thinks I can’t clean or something. So anyway, something spilled on the floor in the kitchen and I grabbed a mop so I could pick it up quickly. As soon as I did that I realized that my mom had always teased me about not knowing how to mop for real. And, truth be told, I don’t mess with old school mops…I don’t get them. I feel like your just swooshing around dirt and dumping it in dirty water. So, I’m a Swiffer/sponge mop kinda girl. Anywhoo, all grandma has in her house are old school mops. Of course, I had a mini panic attack and proceeded to grab my phone and run out back. I knew my mom was getting ready for work, but what I had to ask would take five minutes…surely she could help me out. The convo went like this:
Ring, Riiiing
Ma: “Hello.”
Me: “Good morning Ma, I need your help.”
Ma: “Misha, I can hardly hear you. What’s going on?”
Me: “I’m trying to whisper, I don’t want Mama to hear me. I need your help.”
Ma: “Well you need to speak up. Is everything ok?”
I know at this point she was worried, thinking something bad happened so like in the storybook Tikki Tikki Timbo, (one of my favorite childhood books) I gathered as much air as I could and blurted out in the loudest whisper I could…
Me: “Ma, I want to mop Mama’s house today but I’m freaking out because I don’t think I know how to mop. I need your help!”
Ma: “Ok, well its simple….”
And with that my Mom pep talked me into conquering the giant (that giant being mopping the whole house).
Later that day, as I washed all the sheets on the beds and hung them out to dry in the Puerto Rican sun…I realized that my ‘manual labor’ here is prepping me for the next steps in life. Taking care of the house for grandma will prove to provide an easy transition into keeping a house for my own family (you know, that whole husband/kids life…whenever that happens). I just smiled and allowed myself to soak in the backyard sun (this is the closest I’ve gotten to acquiring a tan since I’ve been here). God is good folks, if you didn’t know, well, now you know.
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