The once-white carpet was already stained and dingy-looking when we moved in nearly four years ago. After a dogged attempt at cleaning downstairs, we tore out the Berber in the living room and dining rooms. We left it on the stairs and in the second floor hallway. The months’ long remodeling of the upstairs bathroom failed to improve its appearance much. It had passed from dingy to just plain dirty.

Feeling primarily responsible for the decline in condition and aware that this is the week before Valentine’s, I decided I’d arrange a little surprise for Randa; I’d have it cleaned professionally.

I was well aware that any pleasure Randa might take in finding clean carpet would be quickly overwhelmed by her realization that strangers had been in her unprepared-for-company home. So, I got up a little before five yesterday morning so I could do a bit of straightening up. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to create an illusion of tidiness to the casual eye of the hopefully focused-on-something-else carpet cleaning person. By the time we left for work, the living room and kitchen looked pretty good. The other rooms have doors.

Musser’s Cleaning Service arrived as scheduled and completed the job more quickly than I expected. The carpet cleaning guy called me to tell me he was finished, let me know the price and give some advice on fans and drying. But the first question he asked was, “When was the last time you had this carpet cleaned?”

I paused only briefly, reflected for a moment, scanned all stored data under the heading of “Carpet Cleaning” and responded, “Uhm… I don’t think we’re ever had that carpet cleaned.” There was no such ensuing pause on his part; he replied immediately, “I didn’t think so.”

There are things that show, rather quickly, their neglect: yards, houses, dishes, automobiles, clothing. Others are a bit slower to serve notice: fences, concrete floors, relationships, spirits. But eventually, everything not cared for, not attended to, not nourished, shows the signs of lack.

I suspect that many’s the clean house with too little love and I know that I’ve seen more than one home with dusty blinds where the ties that bind are carefully kept and visitors feel welcome.

H. Arnett
2/11/10