They say angels have wings and a halo, but I'm here to tell you that I know that is not always the case. Yep, it's true. For the past twenty two years, I have been keeping company with a real live angel. Hear me out before you decide I'm off on another make believe story.... this time it's the truth, I promise.
My angel passed on the wing thing and opted instead for a nice practical broom, which she frequently used inside the house and outside in the front yard. Yes, my angel swept outside. I'm still not making this up. I would never tell a story like this without proof. Other people have witnessed her happily sweeping ninety to nothing, back and forth until the yard was clean, just in case unexpected company show up. Good thing she passed on the wings, they would not have been practical when paired with a broom. Certain things such as wings and brooms just don't mesh.
The halo was a no-go for her, as well. You might have guessed it, she chose a dust rag instead. It's truly a good thing I met my angel, otherwise I would have never known that tables were supposed to be dusted underneath and up and down the legs not just on top which is where people generally looked. It is important to clean things that others may not see....I learned that from Betty Laverne Tate.
Laverne left us yesterday. I have spent some time today thinking about the way she lived her life and I realized it was much the way she cleaned her home. She took care of things on the inside as well as the outside. Her outward appearance was very important to her, during her last days when she could barely get around, she insisted on having her hair rolled. She was always neat, clean and ready to greet everyone with a smile. I wish I could find the words to describe that smile, it was a kind of sneaky, almost as if she knew something that no one else did and it had the power to transform a bad day into a good day. It's a given that the inside of Laverne was much like the tables that she dusted over and over, pure and clean with nothing to hide.
I will never be the housekeeper that Laverne was. Most of the time I hide clutter behind closet doors where visitors cannot see, I never sweep my yard and I hope no one ever looks underneath my tables because it would disturb the thriving dust mite community who resides there. I'm gonna get around to cleaning all that one of these days. The way I live my life could use a good cleaning, too. Thankfully, having had Laverne as a mother-in-law all of these years, has left me with considerable knowledge when it comes to cleaning . I have decided to work toward getting my very own broom and dust rag, especially now that Laverne is looking down from Heaven with a birds eye view of my mess. I want her to be as proud to have had me as a daughter-in- law as I was to have had her as a mother-in-law. Y'all go on now, I'm gonna be just fine.
