gratification

yesterday, i was dusting in our room for the first time in i-don't-know-how-long. it reminded me of the summer when i was sixteen and babysat for this eleven-year-old child. in addition to watching this child which consisted primarily of watching dirty dancing ad nauseum (by her choice) and going to the swimming pool in the slightly larger town fifteen minutes away, I also cleaned her house once a week for a little extra money - i remember dusting her curio cabinet full of precious moments figurines once a week and feeling it was pointless as there was no dust that could be seen on the surface of the rag when I ran it over the glass shelves -

our room was not nearly so pristine and i have to say that it felt very good to see the dark streaks dirtying the old cloth diapers

i also remember linda's mom telling me that she wished i could always watch linda because linda was so much more well-behaved when i watched her. it might have something to do with the fact that if her mom told her to do something in the morning before she left the house, i insisted that linda do it and i also insisted that linda be polite to her mom in my presence...