I pity the souls that find everyday life boring.  There are so many people that waste away their existence waiting for “their ship to come in” or leave Barbie dolls in boxes so they’ll be worth more in maybe 300 years or save the good dishes for the company that shows up once every 365 days.  I learned long ago that I would never survive as part of this group.  After Christmas I take all of the gifts I receive out of the boxes and start letting these new things become a part of our daily life.  I don’t freak out when the table cloth gets a spot on it.  I don’t panic if my whites aren’t perfectly white and I really don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to remove soap scum from the shower walls.  We like our home to be presentable and neat but definitely not sterile and perfect.

Due to the fact it was barber shop night at our house tonight, I knew the vacuum would be making an appearance once everything was “cut and dried.” The routine is usually quite similar each time the barber shop opens.  I arm myself with a scissors and a comb.   Don whips a towel around his shoulders and waits patiently while I lower his ears.  I remove the towel and step outside to give it a shake before tossing it in the washer and then one of us backs the vacuum out of it’s garage and before long the spare hairs are wistfully sucked into this incredibly hungry device.  The barber shop whips it’s hypothetical closed sign into the spot made especially for it in the imaginary window, we flick the switch on the swirling barber pole out front and life continues on which usually involves some television watching or showering.  Tonight was just a tad bit different.

We bought a new vacuum several weeks ago and although I assembled it, I couldn’t remember just exactly how to remove the large clear plastic tube that traps the dirt.  When I started the vacuum I remembered thinking I should have dumped it the last time I used it but didn’t so I decided I should do it now.  I saw two release buttons and pushed them both but nothing happened.  At that moment Don arrived on the scene and saw yet another button and pushed it and POOOOOOFFFFF!!!!  It was the right one but due to the fact that I had pushed the wrong two first meant the entire contents of the vacuum made immediate plans to empty itself on itself rather than wait until it was suspended over the garbage can.  I am here to tell you, that vacuum holds A LOT OF DIRT!!!  It was everywhere.  It was in the air and up our noses……ah..ahhhh….ahhhhh….CHOOOOO!!! and all over the legs of the chairs, on us, on the vacuum and all over the floor.  I grabbed the electric broom out of the closet and I can honestly say this was the very first time I had ever vacuumed a vacuum!  Once we had everything put back together Don took the newly emptied vacuum across the floor and before long, every thing was looking good and I said to him, “It’s kind of like the vacuum is cleaning up it’s own vomit.” The best thing about the whole incident is that we both laughed, we worked on the solution together, we made a memory and isn’t that what life is all about?