Dust If You Must

Do you believe in dusting? Does dusting have merits in your book?

I answer yes and yes to both questions.

Dusting makes the house look and smell clean. It keeps dust down to a dull roar, which helps keep my allergies in check.

But, I am also a dusting procrastinator. It is my only chore that regularly gets a pass. Which is sad. Everything has higher priority than dusting-laundry, cooking, writing, paperwork (and you know how much I like that), scrubbing toilets and floors.

I pass this chore off to my kids. I give it a lick and a promise. I simply don't do it.

Maybe it is because dusting has been my chore my entire life. From the time I was very young I was dusting my mom's tons of bric-a-brac. Which always too forever.

That is probably why this poem made me laugh when I read it last week...

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
Music to hear, and books to read;
Friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself, will make more dust.

-Rose Milligan

So, it is Tuesday, my dusting day. The question is...will I dust?

Only if I must...