"Important" People

I have gone back and checked to be sure this is not a repeat. It happens to be one of my favorite "lessons learned from life." It recently came back to memory by the ongoing election news. If it is a repeat, I know several folks who will let me know.

Like most of us, our children's room occasionally would get cluttered and messy enough that I would declare a day of cleaning. Sometimes that was nothing more than tossing toys in a toy box and clothing in the laundry hamper. Other times, it meant digging to the bottom of the toy box and sorting play clothes from Sunday-go-to-meeting outfits. On those particular cleanup days, I would encourage them to clean their area as though the President of the United States was coming for a visit or the Queen of England would be dropping by with white gloves to check for dust.

Well, one afternoon I was finishing up a literal mountain of laundry. Everything had been washed and dried. The children were all sitting in the living room, reading or watching TV or watching me. I, too, was in the living room -- folding laundry and making stacks on every piece of furniture and probably even a few stacks in the middle of the floor. I could see the neighbors' house across the street and was aware that there was someone in the neighborhood, going door to door.

So, I was not particularly surprised when the doorbell rang. But I was surprised to see Governor Sheffield, the Governor of the great State of Alaska, standing on my porch. "May I come in for a visit?" he asked politely.

I looked around at the scene I had created and told him, "This would not be a good time." Somehow, from that day on, we never again cleaned for celebrities.