Still Laughing...

So Friday afternoon there's a message on my answering machine. It's the coordinator for our small town's Home and Garden Tour, and she's calling because she wants to consider our house for the upcoming Home and Garden Tour.

That sound you here? It's me guf-fawing. Our home is SO not home and garden tour material. I mean, it's a nice house in a lovely area, but I am SO not a home and garden-type housekeeper. At all. Plus home decoration is way down on my list of priorities. My house looks like it's inhabited by two teen males, one scattered mechanic, and a absent-minded professor with waaaay too many books and stacks of papers.

So I called her back and left a message on her machine that I thought someone was playing a cruel joke on her. When we finally talked, she assured me that no, this wasn't a joke. I assured her that it was. Then she very sweetly asked if I was being modest. ::snort:: Hardly. Just realistic. I told her we'd talk again in two years when my housekeeping skills and home decorating priorities shifted.

See, the thing is, a long time ago when I committed to pursuing writing, I knew something had to give. I couldn't do it all. So my priorities became my family, my health, and my writing. Everything else moved way down the list. Where it remains.

Now granted, my family dynamics have shifted (read empty nest) but my priorities haven't caught up yet. Soon, I'm guessing. But not quite yet.

And I share this with all of you in case there are others who have housekeeping way down on their priority lists. I want you to know that the bottom of the list is a perfectly acceptable place to put it. Especially if you're raising a family or pursuing a creative endeavor.