Originally published on October 19th, 2006 at Onward & Upward 

These past few weeks have been very difficult for me. On top of recurring headaches and the beginning of a cold, I have been very busy at work and just overall stressed and tired. I have practically crashed every evening without doing anything around the house, or even going grocery shopping.

Our small apartment is looking a little worse for the wear, as evidenced by my desire to lay down every evening instead of cleaning. My not-so-tidy husband isn’t bothered by the mess as much as I am, but it drives me nuts. My perfectionist tendencies want my home to look like a picture from a magazine.

A few years ago, I was visiting my dear friend Beth at her old house before she and her husband moved to Texas. As I was walking through the house, I spotted a small inscription written in the dust on a small table: “I (heart) Stu”. At the time, I thought it was so sweet and I wondered about the smile on her husband’s face when he saw her little note.

But now, I see it in a different light. Perhaps Beth could have been a Super Wife and kept their house Super Clean all the time. However, there would be no dust to leave special little “I love you” messages. So perhaps some dust isn’t all bad. Often the beauties of life are made up of the seemingly “imperfections”.

Thank you, Beth, for the little dust message that you inadvertantly left with me. :-) And no one please misunderstand me about Beth’s housecleaning abilities – she is a wonderful housekeeper, and her home is warm and inviting. And if you’re like me – tired and frustrated about not achieving perfection, I challenge you to reevaluate what really is the important thing in life, and go from there! :-)