To my future Daughter-in-law

I’m sorry I have not done you any favours. I still pick up after this man who occupies my house. You look at him and see his charm, smarts and you love him for all that he is. When you pick up after him for the hundredth time, I know that you are going to curse me. Please be my guest.

You see I want something else that is more important than teaching him as an adult to be clean and tidy. I have a life and my life revolves around me being home all day most of the time. I want to be proud of my home, of what I have made this house to be and I want to be able to invite people into it without feeling embarrassed. This son of mine who you love is no longer a child to be taught. He is a man and he is very capable of teaching himself.

One day someone important to me is going to knock on my front door and I want to be able to welcome them in with confidence. That confidence will be present because while I know that there are still renovations to be completed, my house is tidy and clean. It won’t be sterilely clean but still healthy and I will be wearing a cloak of pride in what I have been able to achieve.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that when your children arrive and they are small, I will not expect you to have a tidy, sterile house. I would expect you to be proud of your children’s active minds, bodies and their sense of fun. This will always create a mess but still be proud of what they do. You see I once had many children playing and living in my house and yes it was always in a state of chaos. I worked outside the home as you probably will do as well. I was too tired to argue, fight or turn into a skeleton while I waited for action, I just didn’t have the time and nor will you. I still had a dream during these times, a dream that I knew would be in reach one day. That day had to be waited for, some dreams just can’t happen overnight. That day has come, my children are now older and many have even left home to make their own way in life.

There is just this one thing, which stands in the way of my dream becoming a reality. It is this child that camps at our place, the one that you love, who will not clean up after himself and walks away from not quite finishing the chores. Yes, I have been told not to spoil him but I want my dream and this is the sort of work that is going to make my dream become a reality.