Of Course, it had to rain today. . . .

Yesterday was Saturday, our chore day.  The kids got to work doing their little chores (with much coaxing and persuading) and I was going about mine when I saw my sixty-something year old neighbor from our kitchen window.  She was, in typical window cleaning fashion, out on the ledge, hanging out of her window. . . cleaning. . . . five stories off the ground.  I don't like cleaning windows because of this fact.  If you live four or five stories off the ground, well, to get your windows clean you have to hang out of them four or five stories off the ground.  For that reason my windows have been very dirty for a long long time.  I was telling myself I would wait until Spring.  Then I had to see my older neighbor facing the same job I was avoiding, and because it was so sunny and at that moment my windows looked soooooo grimy (and they were), I decided to do it.  I got out my bucket, my wash rags, and got to work!  It felt good to be cleaning, to see clearly out of the glass once again, and to feel like I too could keep a clean home by Turkish standards.

At one point, as I was cleaning my kitchen window and was squatting out on the ledge, hanging on with one hand and reaching as far as I could with the other, that same neighbor woman opened her clean window and after greeting me proceeded to give me a few tips.  She was suggesting I use newspaper to give it a shine and I wished I had some, but mainly I was hoping the conversation wouldn't go on so that I could get my scary job done and get my feet back inside where I was safe from falling.

And so I enjoyed my clean windows yesterday.  And today it rained.  Of course, it had to!