Let’s call it spring cleaning.

Of late, my wife and I have been in a tizzy, as she would call it, cleaning our house from top to bottom. Organizing closets, the office, the storage rooms, and even cleaning the hardwood. For four successive weeks we’ve filled our garbage can and our recycling bin to the brim. And today we donated probably 70 items of clothing, 40 books and various other items like picture frames, shoes and unused binders to charity.

That last part has been the most pleasing so far. I loaded all of our donations in the back of our car, needless to say filling it entirely. Then over the lunch hour I drove across town to a Women In Need Society store. Frustratingly, the store I visited was closed, because the whole neighbourhood was experiencing a power outage. So I found another location, 50 kilometres away on the other side of town. Once I got there, after a scenic cross-Calgary trip, a store associate helped me unload the car and was very thankful for our donation. Surprisingly so. I was instantly heart-warmed and his thanks gave me pause. It felt good – to help, to make the extra effort to get to their store, and to hear his appreciation. I hope our donation makes a difference somehow.

I would dare say that our cleaning is nearly done. But then, one usually says something like that and really they’re not even close. I guess we’ll see.