Ramblings of a Bathroom Philosopher

As I am going through the years of THINGS that myself and my family have amassed over the years - from sentimental objects like kids' art projects to silly things like yard sale finds, I am amazed at how much CRAP we own!!! This summer I have found myself in the position of wanting to clean everything - not just dust, but CLEAN OUT. Dig into the drawers, empty them out, throw away things nobody can use, give away things that people can use. Get to the NITTY-GRITTY of what's tucked away behind neat exteriors. Clean the inside so that it's as ordered as the outside would have it appear.

This is no small task. A decade of junk crammed into a closet is easily ignored. Old nail polish, hairspray, and deoderant is brought up out of the depths of cabinets, and you wonder how you ever managed to ignore this much stuff - some of it REALLY rancid. Other things are less clear: what do I do with this old perfume that I'll never wear but was given to me as a gift? Do I REALLY need a Tazmanian Devil shampoo bottle? How the heck did this glass bottle of Listerine that expired in 1999 get here?!!?!? The bathroom closet is an enigma in itself.

So, yes, Christina, you cleaned, that's great, but why the note? Well, at least in my experience, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is analogous to something else. This summer has not only been a house-cleaning one, but also a soul-cleaning, or, more appropriately, soul-examining one. What do I value? What do I say I value on the exterior but actually need to value more on the interior? What are the expired products that my soul doesn't need, or are actually toxic?? Can I let go of the old perfumes and hang on to only the things I truly value, the things I truly need? Can I get rid of old things to make way for new things? Say I discover that I need moisturizer to make my skin healthier - what if I have no place to put it? Will I cram it in a drawer until it expires? Or will I make room for it by letting go of three of the four hair dryers that are (literally) in the closet?

I think the answer should be obvious, all sarcasm aside. I want a bathroom-soul that is squeaky-clean, no kinda-sorta sentiments allowed. Yes or no. Stay or toss. I need it in order to get by or I need it to get thrown out.

I feel like the Virgin Mary has been that - a beautiful new addition - for me this summer. I didn't even realize she was there until I started taking inventory! I kept St. Therese - she's an essential ;) - but television watching (for the most part) had to go. Prayer had to be added. Mass had to be added. Things that before I had crammed to the back of the cabinet I'm suddenly finding are the best beauty products for my soul. The "makeup drawer" of my soul has no use now - I'm done with the fussing over how I appear to others. Why does it matter if you know that you need to take care of the entire interior cleaning project in order for things to really SPARKLE? For you to be TRULY, DEEPLY CONTENT? For you to be able to love every part of your bathroom, you have to know what's IN it first, so that when you walk into it or need to use it, you KNOW it. You can tell when the shampoo is running low and you need more - you don't end up with unused bottles in the back!!!

And what do we keep all this stuff for anyways - we're all going to die someday, anyhow, and then it'll just get given away!!! We might as well enjoy the peace of an ordered soul / bathroom in this life, because we'll lose the ability to clean it in the next.

I guess it's funny how this happens that one can reflect on life from the perspective of a bathroom cleaning project, but, then again, if the Savior of the World can die for us out of love on a wooden cross so that even those who will never come to know Him can potentially be saved, I suppose that "holy folly" is the only way that any real work in realizing Christ is ever accomplished!! Bathroom philosophy may just be my calling... or maybe I should stick with immigration law. Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now - I have to open up the box and clean it out, you know. ;)