Everyday Household Magic

*If you have a walk-in closet, you probably can't relate to this post at all.  And if you tell me how big your closet is, we'll probably never be friends again.  Just sayin'.


My closet.  It's got so many uses.  That rod is packed with clothes hanging on it-- half of them never get worn, but I hold onto them for various reasons.  Some are professional clothes from my teaching days, and you never know when I might decide I need to look like my former alter-ego, my non-stay-at-home-Mom self.  Or they might simply be out of season.  Or, more likely, they're dresses and shirts that do not accommodate a breastfed baby, so they're biding their time until he's weaned.  (I guess that makes the odds that they'll be out of style by then pretty good, but style has never been my strong suit, and I see no reason to start worrying about that now.)  The shelves above that rod are strewn with skirts that I'm sure I'll be able to fit into soon (ha!), sweaters, scarves, and boxes of winter and maternity clothes.  And then there are a few other odds and ends that aren't even clothing at all: purses, backpacks, all the film negatives from my wedding...

But it's the floor of my closet that really gets interesting.  That's where I keep my assortment of slippers-- everything from purple & fuzzy to rainbow & fuzzy, and also a pair with Pikachu on them and a pair with bananas on the toes.  That's also where I tend to throw my workout clothes if I think I can get one more wear out of them before they 're too smelly.  And, of course, you'll find anything that was on the floor of my room that I shoved into my closet in order to quickly clean up or not have to look at the mess any more.  It's where you'll find stuff that my kids put there: sippy cups and toys and blankets (so many blankets...) and anything else they found to play with, and then abandoned on the floor of my closet. 

Because my closet is so much more than just a closet: it's a hiding place, a place to feel alone without going too far away from mommy.  It's a place to sit giggling until it's time to come bursting out and surprise mommy.  It's a place to go when you've got a laundry basket on top of you, turning you into a robot, and you're recharging.  It's a magical place.

But it had also become something of a dump.

So in a fit of energy one day, I cleaned off the floor of my closet.  I managed to make room in a drawer (!) for those workout clothes.  I put all the sippy cups in the sink to be washed and I even put the toys away.  I stacked the slippers on top of their mate so they were both matched and not taking up so much space.

And now I can see the carpet that resides there.  And it's so peaceful and restful and clean seeing the carpet on my closet floor.  I never knew I could love that little square of carpet so much, but every time I see it I feel like a woman who has things put together and organized, so much so that I can leave that patch of my home absolutely devoid of stuff.

It's become my happy place as much as it's always been my children's.  And even clean, it's still magical.