Curtain Tie Backs

It is the little things in life that make us happy. We all know this but we don't all take it to heart. Happiness is in the cup of coffee freshly brewed that you sip at the dining room table as you gaze at your clean living room. A living room that is clean for no good reason(the 'good reason' usually being that company was expected to arrive any time soon). Happiness is in knowing that the jumble of stuff that has been collecting dust for two years in the entry way has been pared down, sorted and taken care of so that paper clips, staples, pens, batteries, receipts, coupons, scissors, safety pins, etc., all have a drawer in the new 9-drawer box I bought from Ikea. Happiness is seeing the top of the dining room table and not just the legs.

It's so nice to have the upstairs part of the house so close to being exactly the way I want it: neat, organized and clean. Clean and neat are not the same thing. A house can be tidy and organized but still be dirty. I wonder if the Spring Cleaning Bug is hitting me now because our winter lasted well into June. Whatever the reason I don't want to fight it.

The last couple of days I've been tying the curtains back when I open them in morning (late morning). I think this is a huge milestone for me as a mother. Yes, a milestone because when, in the not so distant past, you were so sleep deprived that you napped every second the baby napped and cried when baby woke up crying because you could have easily slept 8 more hours. To make matters worse you couldn't reach the curtains even if you wanted to. There was no way to get to the curtains anyway without an overnighter at base camp because the house was a complete hovel and you couldn't physically get past the baskets of clean laundry, the swing, the exersaucer, the basket of books, the briefcases, the shoes and baby toys. Even if there was an open and easy path to the curtains why would you want to flood light into your home and disrupt the land of perpetual naps? Of course to get out of Perpetual Napdom one must forgo naps for a couple of days but that is easier said than done when Napdom is the only reason you get any amount of sleep at all.

So yes it is a momentous occasion to tie back the curtains. You are no longer fighting the light and you have time and energy to spare by walking 10 feet out of your way to get the tie backs and, here's the exciting part: you still have energy and motivation to tie the curtains back and let in the sunshine! Glorious, glorious sunshine. We in Seattle see so very little of the sun that when we are graced with its warm, glowing presence we flip out. So elated are we that our feet don't touch the ground, we float along, gracefully scattering flower petals in our wake as we smile and wave gracefully to our fellow levitating flower tossing neighbors.

That is of course on the first day of said glorious weather. On day two of the same glorious weather only a degree or two warmer and we melt into a collective puddle of sweaty grumbly goo. We wanted summer to come but to come on our terms. 'Our terms' are for the weather to stay a perfect 79 to 81 degrees with just a fluffy cloud or two in the sky, maybe a few feathery clouds to frame out Mt. Rainier, and the softest of breezes kissing our skin as it brings a hint of salt water that it collected as it skimmed the Puget Sound.

We are a fickle bunch. We live in a green state, physically and conservationally, we have an abundance of water, at least West of the Cascades, we have mild winters and mild summers (again, West of the Cascades) and we still find reason to grumble on day two of 'heat wave'. Of course when the heat wave is over we are happy for all of one day before we grumble about summer being gone so soon.

You know it is day one of real summer weather when you are stuck in traffic on the 520 or 405 or I-5 or 167 or 169 or 518 or 509 or 99 because no one seems to care they are stuck in their cars. Traffic flows anywhere between 0 and 8 mph and everyone has their radio on listening to Sheryl Crow's or Will Smith's song about summer, drivers all have their left arm hanging out the window and everyone is sporting a huge, relaxed smile. Good vibes all around in this love fest of beautiful weather.

Day two of same glorious summer weather and you are stuck on the same 520/405/I-5/167/169/518/509/99 and the smiles have vanished, the windows are rolled up and the a/c is blasting. Instead of smiles and friendly wave-ins being passed around it is now the bird. It flits from car to car and horn to horn.

Happy Summer!