* mamaw & the clean porch …
It’s 2nd Tuesday and that means just one thing. Well, actually it means just one thing if I remember that it’s 2nd Tuesday, which I tend to forget from time to time. The Bentley’s invaded PJ’s tonight and it’s time for a mamawism.
For any of you new readers who may not know what a mamawism is … you may want to enter mamawin the search box and read the older mamawism post and get caught up.
Are there strange things that you ponder or wonder about? Like for instance, do you worry if they sky will fall? Do you ponder the chances of ever needing to use algebra in real life or if it is just a torture test in high school to prepare you for the reality of being an adult?
I inherited the ability to wonder about things from my mamaw. I, however, did not inherit her nature when it came to preparing just in case what you were pondering about ever really happened. One of my mamaws biggest concerns (I’m sure there were others that I just wasn’t aware of) was whether or not her house would be clean in case she died. We had a conversation about it once … it went something like this:
mamaw: (mopping the porch before the sun was up)
me: mamaw, why do you mop your porch and the rest of the house every morning?
mamaw: (looking at me as if I may be a brick shy of a load) because it has animal prints on it where the blankity blank animals walked on it during the night.
me: so, what does that matter?
mamaw: (sitting me down as if she were about to reveal the secret of life with me) melinda, what if I were to die today?
me: (what the crap) what mamaw? what on earth does mopping a porch have to do with death? if you were to die, what difference would it make if your porch had cat prints on it? (I’m thinking to myself that her porch would be my last concern).
mamaw: melinda, you cannot have people seeing your house in a mess if you pass away.
me: why? who cares?
mamaw: (dazed and confused by my lack of understanding) everybody would care.
me: um no they wouldn’t, we would just all be sad and no one would give it a thought.
mamaw: I would care. I wouldn’t want people to think I lived or let your papaw live in a dirty house.
I was young when that conversation took place. As I have grown older, I still don’t appreciate a clean house like my mamaw did, and most likely never will … but I do have a better understanding of what she meant and why she felt that way. It was important to her for her life to be in order. For her home to be in order. It brought her a sense of satisfaction and comfort. Just as doing certain things at certain times were extremely important to her. I think about when my Poppi (my mama’s dad) was killed in a logging accident. It was my mamaw who flew in to action to make sure Thad and I were taken care of. That we were properly coifed and dressed for the funeral. She made sure Thad had a suit and I had combed hair. She cooked and she cleaned up after all of us, because she knew what to do. It never occured to me, until my mom died unexpectedly, that there is a need in times of uncertainty for someone to be prepared … someone to have their porch and house in order,so to speak, so they can take care of the details for others. Cathy reminds me of my mamaw in that way. Maybe it’s part of the reason I love her so much.
As I think back about my mamaw, even though there are many things I laugh about when I think of her, there are so many more things I deeply appreciate about her. She was a giver. She was a doer. She was ever so protective of her flock. She was always prepared. Clean porch and all.
moral of the story: (2 things)
#1. always be prepared for the unexpected.
#2. always be prepared to help others thru the unexpected.
me.
Great story, I can remember Mamaw moping the floors and porch many times, just about the same as every surface inside the house needing a fresh coat of paint at least once a year.
But back to this story, maybe you should appreciate that clean porch a little more since you spent at least one full eveving sitting out there pouting when Mamaw didn’t even know you were there. That’s a story you need to tell…
i will make sure Patrick reads this one. i definately inherited her, IN ORDER, way
of life. he will now have more understanding.
love the post!
I love Mawmawisms.
Why is it that the “good” Bentley girls (as you so often call us) inherited Mamaw’s “keeping everything clean and in order” rules when we lived the farthest away???
HAHA! I mean we even had to rake the shag carpet at Harvey’s house so every strand stood up straight! We didn’t mop the front porch alot but let me tell you, the rules of a clean house filtered from Bethlehem to Wittenburg during my childhood so I am not sure where you got off track…maybe mamaw should have handed the mop to you instead of letting you watch her mop all the time!!! LOL – But you know what I think is great??? …you have time to have your own “blop” while the other Bentley girls are too busy making sure everything is clean and in order…Now tell me who has all the fun??? That would be you little miss runaway!! Love you bunches..thanks for all the mamaw memories!
i’m not sure what happened to me. i think i inherited mamaws sense of humor instead of her cleaning gene. and i have you know, i remember y’all raking that shag carpet. for the love of pete … what normal person rakes carpet? i think this may be the reason i have hard wood floors. you do realize your daddy’s building is probably cleaner than my house, how sad is that? i think it really went wrong when i moved in next to mamaw (in my very own single wide treller, thank you very much) and she cleaned my house for me everyday (until that fateful day of the much miscalculated door locking incident, which will now have to be a post all of its own) and just for the record, i would much rather “blop” anyday than clean anything for any reason … ever! so i’m good with all you other bentley girls being clean freaks … how bout you come on over and get busy! i love you and thank you for making so many good memories with me for my entire life, i wouldn’t trade you for cheesecake. well, maybe i wouldn’t trade you for cheesecake. ok, it may possibly depend on what kind of cheesecake we are talking about.
You know I thought I was the only one that ever…ever…had to RAKE CARPET of all things, and lord knows the marks all better go one way..and how did they always know if you skipped the vacum part and tried to get away with only the raking? Could you see now if we told one of our kids to rake the carpet ..they would have us committed
here is my theory on all of y’all having to rake carpet … your parents didn’t like you so much. they had to find ingenious ways of torturing you that didn’t leave marks, thus they made you rake carpet (which i can barely say without laughing) y’all crack me up. cathy, i seriously think the bentley cleaning gene somehow morphed its way in to your soul. i got the big butt, you got the cleaning skills. between you and all the other bentley girls … your houses are always spotless, my house, not so much. i bet if y’all wanted to take turns “demonstrating” your cleaning skills at my house you could teach me a good lesson or 12!