Every free calorie of energy I had to spare for the last week has gone to house cleaning. I've been digging deeper than usual, for a very good reason. I have a person I have known only in a casual sense for two years coming to my house for the first time in the morning. She's not coming here just to visit. She is coming to take pictures of my house, in order for people to judge me. That sounds harsh, but it is the core of what we are doing. Two weeks ago she made an announcement at Rotary that the final host family for our foreign exchange student has fallen through, and she was looking for volunteers to provide a temporary home for this young lady from April through June. I wanted to raise my hand in that instant, but I waited to consult with the other human who lives in this house before I offered my home to the teenager. I waited four days before I actually sent the email, and I worried that I had waited too long and she would have already selected someone else, but apparently I was the first to make the decision. The youth exchange coordinator will be here tomorrow to look over my digs, to take pictures, and to send them to Rotary International for approval. I assume I also have to submit background check info, and will be filling out forms under the coordinator's direction.
I really want this to work. I felt a kinship with this young lady when she first arrived, and we learned that the top of her wish list was all the sports events she wanted to attend. I had promised her a CU football game, but I wasn't well enough to go to more than the homecoming game. I felt bad, and made sure I took her to basketball instead, and we got lucky that it was the week we beat both nationally ranked Arizona teams. I promised her that if CU keeps winning, I'll take her to another game at the end of the season. I believe that we have such a unique American experience for ourselves, for having lived all around the country and learned so much from everywhere we went, that we have a lot to offer her. We don't have teenagers living in the house, but we have young enough kids living close by to keep her from feeling surrounded by old folks. (Let's be honest, Rotary tends to be heavy on the close-to-retirement-age end of the spectrum.)
I just have to win approval. To that end, I emptied out my dressing room/sewing & crafts room where I'll be housing her. I sorted most stuff, but eventually when I had to face the mountain of junk on my long dresser, I hit the "hide it in a bag" stage. I have one large reusable grocery bag full of papers, perfume bottles, photographs, and random tchatchkis hidden in my bedroom, next to two bags of fabric and unfinished sewing projects that also don't need to be visible for inspection. I took photos from different angles, and I will study them. I find it's easier to see the room like a stranger would, when I am obsessively looking at the background of photos. When you live in a place it's too easy to overlook clutter. You just stop seeing it. Tomorrow morning I need to remove the cat toys from the living room and wipe down the kitchen counters before the lady arrives. I haven't taken pictures out there, but I am going to be a little more forgiving of clutter. They need to see the bedroom I'm putting up on offer, plus the kitchen, bathroom, and living spaces. They don't need perfect, they just need tidy, safe, and meeting basic standards, I assume. If approved, I'll have two months to do a more thorough sort and organization of everything left. I wanted to do that Swedish death cleaning thing. This will make it a whole lot easier, if I'm trying to make space for a 16 year old, and any of her friends who want to visit. I hope I pass inspection. This could be a very special spring if it works out.
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