I can get into mopping. I like to have things tidy. I really like to organize, classify, and group things. But I am an amatuer compared to my mother and my daughter. They are naturals.
My relationship to art and cleanliness and neatness are similar. I like to look at art in museums and galleries and friends' houses. I also dabble in a few crafty/arty things with my kids, but I am not an artist. I like neat and clean places, they feel comfortable. I like to clean and be neat--to a point. But cleanliness and neatness are not me at my core--I have other things to obsess about.
My mom often tells me a story that once she couldn't sleep because she hadn't ironed my doll's clean clothes. She got up and ironed them until 1 in the morning (and I am sure folded them neatly and put them in their wicker box). When she tells me this story I think: washing doll clothes? Did the doll spit up or get her knees dirty on the playground? How do doll clothes get dirty? The ironing part is way beyond even trying to figure out.
Annabelle also appreciates neat things. They give her divine pleasure. A bed well made with a pillow properly aired, puffed, and placed or a cup of tea in a white mug or precise handwriting really turn her on. Like I've said, I can get into these things, but they don't turn me on.
When my friend Amy was in medical school, her professor asked the class what diagnosis they’d think if they interviewed a patient who had knee and shoulder injuries from cleaning. Amy thought: I’d think Annabelle Sumner. (My mom has no cartilage left in her knee from using them a lot—to do lots of things) Amy’s classmates thought OCD. You can draw your own conclusions.
My mom also used to like to tuck us into bed as she tucked her dolls into bed as a child. We had to lay flat on our backs for this ritual. She'd lift our arms above our heads and then pull the sheet squarely over our faces and cover the sheet with the quilt, which she pulled just up to our chins. Then she'd fold the sheet evenly back over the quilt and bring our arms down over both. As soon as she'd finish and given me a kiss goodnight, I'd kick and my legs and twist all around. We'd giggle.
Ramona also really likes neat things. The other day she posted a post-it on the window that faces out on our porch and asked me to list her and Sumner's "playdate rides", otherwise known as carpools.
If she washes her hands in public, she loves drying her hands with the paper towels, but it bothers her that we have to crumple it up and toss it away. She often asks for another paper towel when her hands are dry. This paper towel, she will "keep nice". She doesn't want it to be folded or let it get wet. She just wants it untouched.
At night, she like to get herself organized. She lines up her dolls and books and music just so.
Do you see how the speakers are at a perfect 45 degree angle and the doll is parallel to Ramona just so? With things set up just like that she can rest. She can sleep peacefully with her world in order.
World, watch out...one day Ramona will learn to iron. She may just start the
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