Before we went on holiday, my mum would spend time trying to leave the house clean and tidy. She did this right down to the day of our departure and even in the last few minutes. I could not understand it: I reasoned that everything would just be as it was when we returned, if a bit dustier; cleaning wasn’t necessary in order for us to go away. I remember urging her, on one occasion, to cease the wiping of bathroom sink or hoovering of stairs, aware that dad had packed the car and was, perhaps, sitting, waiting, tapping his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. I was then old enough to appreciate that mum and dad each had their own feelings and notice the dynamic between them which was independent of their role as my parents. A mixture of … what? anxiety and arrogance? would lead me to try to broker between the two. I don’t actually know whether my dad was irritated by mum’s wanting to clean the house as she left it, but I imagined he might be.
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