A Little Perspective – Dirty Dishes

Upon entering the kitchen this morning, I was confronted with this mild disaster in my sink.

I assure you this is not my “Photo Of The Day” post for today.

This scene reminded me of an image a friend posted to Facebook yesterday. That image depicted approximately the same ‘disaster’ and had a text overlay blaring, “It’s Not Just Your House. Cut Yourself Some Slack.” in a very cute font. It is was a playful attempt at making us all feel like we were not alone and that the ‘perfect’ household, where everything is in its right place and sparkling clean, rarely exists.

But as I stare at my own task cut out for me this morning, I actually started smiling. Why? Because instead of seeing a pile of dirty dishes that will take some scrubbing to get clean (while my stomach reminds me it needs attention first), I am reminded why those dish are there. It’s a matter of perspective. In this case, the whisk, bowls and buried measuring cups are from baking brownies for the parents and brother of a friend of my daughter, a friend who died last week and left behind a grieving family. The cutting board is from the veggies that went into the salad for that family. Same with the greasy pan which cooked the chicken.

The other bowls are from breakfast the morning before (I’m that lazy sometimes). Those bowls remind me of nothing so monumental as the lose of a child, but of something simple; those dishes are dirty because my family ate healthy, delicious food yesterday. The knife with globs of peanut butter was used to liven up a banana late at night.

I decided at that point it was a matter of perspective.

When you come over to my house you just might see dirty dishes in the sink. What I see, in contrast, is a family fortunate enough to have good food with which to make a mess.

Dishes, in general, are a lower priority for me. Maybe this rationalization is a way of making myself feel better for not having a spotless sink every day? Maybe. But not likely, as I know I will always get to the point where I clean them, usually with some upbeat music on the radio.

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I wrote this post as a reminder for you, dear reader, the same reason my friend re-posted the image on Facebook. You can look at it either as a horrible mess you don’t want to deal with or as a reminder that your family ate well and healthy the day before. Either way, you know it will eventually get clean, it always does, but maybe changing your perspective will make the task a little lighter on the “Perfect Mom/Dad/Wife/Husband/Bachelorette/Bachelor” guilt soaked section of your brain.

They may be dirty dishes to you, but they are a happy family to me.

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And if you want to share this story but know your friends won’t read all 500 words, use this:

Guilt be gone!

Enjoy your day.

pwc