So my husband wants the air ducts in our house cleaned out. I could really care less, but it's important to him.
This morning the air duct guy--kinda' like the carpet cleaning guy or the bug man--showed up to give an estimate. Which meant he had to go through my house, room by room.
And, of course my house wasn't clean.
I mean, parts of it were clean--but there was an awful lot of stuff laying around--snow boots and books and my ever-present pile of papers and dirty dishes and clean dishes...
That's what my house looks like on a typical day.
So, after the air duct guy takes his tour, he sits down to give me an estimate. I try to make a joke about the messy house and he looks at me and says, "Well, children are the most important thing."

Wow. I could have kissed him for saying that! (But I didn't!)

I know he's right that children are more important than an immaculate house. But I forget. I get frustrated with myself and with my family because my house looks lived in. It will never grace the cover of Better Homes and Gardens.

The books scattered in the family room? Waiting to be read to my kindergartner.
The snow boots? Leftovers from an early morning romp in the season's first real snowfall.
The piles of papers? Well, it's just a fact of life in my house that there will be papers--pages torn from coloring books or my grocery shopping list or a letter from a friend.

For today I'm going to look past the mess and remember: CHILDREN ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.