Spring Cleaning (at last!)

My car has been dirty since the onset of winter. It was either too warm (aka: messy) or too cold (aka: frozen doors/locks) to wash it during the winter so I was waiting for spring. Then it became a matter of melting, freezing, puddles and a wide variety of excuses.

Last weekend, I hit the highway. I knew THIS was my opportunity to wash the car's exterior and have the car stay relatively clean all weekend.

I didn't manage to wash the car until Saturday evening. Unfortunately this event took place at the same time my "Check Engine" light came on, so my excitement over driving a clean car was superseded by concern over this amber light.

Because the "Check Engine" light came on, I was reading the car manual as I awaited my turn in the car wash, thus I didn't notice the reflection of my car lights on the closed car wash door. So I didn't realize one of my headlights was burned out until I noticed my lights reflecting off my brother's vehicle (while we were stopped at a light on our way out for breakfast the next morning).

I drove my semi-clean-with-one-head-light car, with the check engine light staring at me the whole way home and all I could focus on was all that needed to be tended to.

I didn't fully appreciate my nice, clean car until it was nestled back safely in our garage at home, with a date with the mechanic to check out the car's light situation. The moment I knew all was falling into place is the moment I couldn't wait to vacuum the car's interior.

It wasn't a full on spring cleaning but I did erase winter's presence within the car. I swiped down a few surfaces, shone up the windows with the cleaning supplies I had on hand and removed my back-up winter coat and warm gloves from the back seat of the car.

While the car was at the garage getting fixed, I tended to collecting some of the renovation debris which had been shovelled onto the lawn. I swept the sawdust off the deck boards. I raked a small piece of the grass to spread out the layer of wet sawdust which had amassed.

I breathed in the warm spring day and marvelled at the joy of spring cleaning. I washed down the interior of our living room windows and wished for more time so I could tend to the outside.

When my car was ready for pick up, I simply felt joyful as I slid into the driver's seat. It felt marvelous to rid the car of the evidence of a long, cold winter. I drove down the dry, dusty streets of the city and felt like the weight of winter fell off my shoulders.

Ahhh ... the joy of spring cleaning. It feels good to let go of winter and forge into a new season. Now I can't wait to wash windows!

Winter still has the power to come back in full force before it is gone for good. But it still feels so very good to clean up the layers of winter which have been accumulating the past six months. I'm so ready to put this winter behind us and I am eternally grateful for the mild spring weather which is giving me the luxury of dreaming AND cleaning.

Spring cleaning never felt this good.