Stone Castles
Dishes. Crumbs. Laundry. The hardest part about housework is that it is never done. Nothing new there. But then again- maybe grabbing hold of a new thought could bring eternity right into my kitchen. Or my laundry room.
My father-in-law sent me a note recently. I have kept it open, on my nightstand. I didn’t know why I felt the need to keep it there – like a bouquet of flowers – until 5 minutes ago. Hands under hot water, rinsing and wiping and pondering my desire to build something permanent – like a huge stone structure – A Castle – that would last through the ages, rather than just cleaning yet another set of dishes that won’t stay clean for anywhere near ages. What I do everyday is fleeting. I have to keep repeating it. And sometimes a person wants to work on something that she can just finish and admire, forever.
Here is some of what he said:
Mom and I really do appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness toward us. We particularly enjoyed our stay with you and the kids celebrating Paul’s graduation. The meals, the bed, the car, the help with the house –
Being able to give Taylor and Emma their blessings – (patriarchal blessings) Thank you. Thank you. You are special to us. We love you.
Dad & Mom
Funny how things really are. The very things that seem the least permanent are the very things that will last the longest. I do dishes. I sometimes do laundry.
But really, I am building a family. And my family will stand. Long after the ages have past.
Here’s to my large stone structure – My Castle. Isn’t it beautiful?
pandmcox
Oh my word do I ever know what you mean!!! I told Brian the other day that I think I’m depressed! I’ve never thought of myself as ever being depressed but I think I am!
I let my house fall into a disgusting heap of vileness and don’t want to go anywhere near the kitchen. I’m done! I’m tired! I’m tired of cooking and cleaning and having it all undone two seconds later. So I quit. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was literally something physical. I just sat here.
Yesterday a friend called and asked me to go running. It got me outside and I ran for five miles. It felt so good. I came home and attacked my house and started cleaning and cooked dinner.
This morning my house is a mess again, but it is cleaner than it was…… it does feel better…….. I think of the years I’ve got ahead of me of continuing to do endless cleaning, cooking, laundry………… it depresses me.
When you break it down and look at it that way. When you look at it the way you ended your post……….. maybe I can dig in and find the courage to keep cleaning/building.
Here’s to building our castles Misty!!!
rachel. thank you for commenting. i always hold my breath after writing and hope someone understands something – anything – in what i wrote. and you do. and i love you for it.
I understand all that you write Misty. You write from the heart and you say things that I am feeling in such a way that is so much better than anything I could possibly write/say. I read what you write and I nod my head the whole time! Yeah. I get it. I get it all too well and wish you’d hurry and move your little butt back up here to UT so we can cry on each others’ shoulders.
That was beautiful! When you put it that way i just think i might go get something done!
you and me both! i have had these castle pictures in my head the entire weekend. it helps.
Well Said!! A solid foundation, impenetrable walls, and a tightly sealed roof are all put in place one loving (or not-so-loving) load of dishes or laundry at a time. Thank you.
thank you hon.
Okay. I should be off doing – something. But here I am. I will tell you a stupid little story: once upon a time, I decided to find my ancestors. I went about this hunt in many different ways. Along one of those ways, I realized that I would not find the keys I was looking for without going through fifty years of court records line by line. There was no index. And that’s what I did. One case at a time. I’d get up, push myself up to the Y. Walk all the way into the library. Sit in the dark for hours, coming each page of each hideously written case for each name. One at a time. Five years. Almost every day was fruitless for me. But I took notes anyway. And in the end, it took me hundreds of hours to put together a database – one entry at a time – but that thing has been up on the web now for almost a decade, and people are using it day and night, every day, every night.
Not permanent, but significant.
You already have the real point: every insignificant moment of dishes, food, laundry, dusting – while those children are home, you are building the concepts into them one dreary line at a time (that’s how you write code too – or a book) – honestly, love, service, order, control, making choices deliberately, pursuing health. We are here to build them. They are here to build theirs and so on. In the end, each soul becomes the material from which the Kingdom is built. we are the stone. The wood. One molecule at a time. And that castle – I believe it will be built to last.
each soul becomes the material from which the kingdom is built.
yeah. you are good.
Absolutely beautiful and eternal. Beautifully written. It’s always worth the wait for your posts.
“Doing housework is like stringing beads with no knot on the end.” Saw that in cross stitch once. Who knows, maybe I’m the one that cross stitched it – I never kept anything I stitched.
mmmm. i wish i kept things sometimes. it would help a little. to have something to show for it. all these years. but i guess i will have the castle – so that’s good.
i just won’t have anything to hang on the walls. hmpf.
Once again you posted a truly great thought that will carry me on through the week. Society will have us think our job as mom is mundane and unimportant. Society tells us we would be more fulfilled outside the home. We are so blessed. Thanks for sharing!!