Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Cinderella
Yesterday was my first full day of running our household by myself. Jan is way too weak to participate in any tasks, other than to fold some laundry. She did it with her usual precision. But I am in charge of ADL’s (medical term for “Activities of Daily Living”) as Jan regains her strength.
Anyone who knows us knows that Jan is the homebody and I am the gadabout. I do have certain jobs: take care of Mollie Dog and her needs, empty the dishwasher and trash, handle the recycle stuff. Occasionally I am in charge of arranging the meal if friends are coming over for dinner. I am a very part time grocery shopper because Jan does the bulk of obtaining provisions.
Sometimes I run to the drug store to pick up her prescriptions. Big whoop.
In the scheme of what it takes to keep a house up and functioning, my responsibilities are not that great and I have become spoiled. So yesterday, when I had many chores, I set out to accomplish them. As the day dawned I created a mental list of things to be done. Laundry was first on my list because the pile in the laundry room was beginning to scare me. Plus Jan needed some specific items of clothing to keep her “warm and dry”. So I separated darks from lights and loaded the machines and pressed start. I do know how to do laundry after all my years of living alone. My kids will tell you that I occasionally turned a white thing pink by some miscalculation, and when they were old enough they did their own laundry to avoid such mishaps.
Preparing three meals was my next thought. I had gotten enough stuff at the grocery store to give Jan choices for what to eat at each meal. Her appetite is not the best, so I tried to get food that might appeal to her. I did have to do some serious talking to have her agree to clean her plate. We are also committed to eating much less convenience food. That means planning meals that have protein, starch, and fruits or veggies. Not rocket science.
At the moment, there is a fair amount of leakage around her chest tube site, so there were three dressing changes during the day. Granted, these are not usual household chores and eventually the leakage will stop. Until then, shirts and sheets get wet and need to be changed and laundered.
There was some spillage in the bathroom so I got a mop thingy and cleaned the floor with Lysol. When I was done with that I sat down with Jan at the dinning room table. “I feel like Cinderella!”, I exclaimed.
That’s when it happened. I got “The Look”. You know the one I mean. The one where no words are exchanged, but the message is clear. It has several meanings, one of which is, “Welcome to my world”. Or, “So now you get it?”. Or, “It’s about damn time”. We got a good laugh out of it and I realized just how much I take for granted.
Back to Cinderella. When the title for this blog came to me I wondered what the origin of the Cinderella story is. Of course everyone knows the Disney movie version, and there have been many other movies about the young woman charged with waiting on her wicked step-people. So, this is not a new story. According to an article I read, scholars have isolated at least 345 variants of this story in Europe. The Brothers Grimm included a fairy tale about her. In 1634 a writer in Italy, Giambattista Basile wrote a story about, “Cenerentola that included a wicked stepmother, evil sisters, losing her shoe, magic and a nobleman who sought the owner of the shoe.” (Abilene Public Library’s Virtual Classroom). There are also versions in Asian literature.
Now you know more than you ever wanted to learn about the McAllister/Mark abode and who the real household maven is. Or, who the real Cinderella is!