Cinderella Style

Today I felt like Cinderella. Not the beautiful princess in a magical ball gown Cinderella, but the on all fours scrubbing the floor Cinderella. That's what I did this afternoon. I put the kids down for their naps and got to work. I was interrupted a few times by phone calls, and the kids did get up long before I finished, but I got it done. I had one bucket with the soapy water and a brush, and another bucket with rinse water and a sponge. I sat on a towel and scooted the towel over the tiles I had finished so that I was drying the floor, and protecting it from my feet at the same time, and scooted my buckets along with me. It took nearly four hours, but I did all the downstairs tile which includes the kitchen, breakfast area, formal dining room (our office), powder room and the laundry room. I think even Martha Stewart would be proud. Any dirt that's left has at least been cleaned with Pine Sol at this point. My bare feet are in heaven walking over it. Ahhhh... I feel good.

I got to thinking about Cinderella while I was busy at work. Part of the main point of the story of Cinderella is her attitude in the midst of her circumstances. While she's scrubbing the floor, her step-sisters are enjoying a music lesson with their evil mother (in the Disney version anyway), not having to do the back-breaking labor that Cinderella has to do. And what does she do? Does she whine and pout? Does she even complain? Does it sour her attitude towards her family? Towards life? Not at all. She graciously serves them, doing her best to meet their needs, and doing it all with a smile.

I know it's a cartoon. And I know it's a fictional story, where writers and artists are going out of their way to elicit sympathy for the main character and deepen the conflict in the story. I understand all that. But I want to make a point here. As a wife and mother it's easy to get the idea that no one appreciates what I do, and be jealous of others in the household who don't do the things I do. But it matters that I do the things I'm supposed to do, and it matters what kind of attitude is on display while I do them. With that in mind, I cheerfully scrubbed my floor "Cinderella style."

I did constantly shoo the kids off "the squares." Hey, their feet aren't nearly as clean as that floor!

Even though I was wearing my iPod while I worked, the overwhelming song in my head today is none other than, "Sing, Sweet Nightingale," from Disney's Cinderella. There are some really pretty harmonies in that song, with the reflections in the bubbles singing the extra parts. It's very well done. I hope it makes you smile to think of that as you go about your work.