The Queen Came By Today

When I was a young mother of younger children--
I had 3 children under two years old--
it was really hard to stay on top of housework.
And a messy house equaled
a messy mind for this Momza.

If you ask my own mother
she'd tell you that
growing up,
I always had the cleanest room
in the house.

I lined my socks up in drawers
by color and style--
white
with ruffle
without ruffle.
My favorite activity was
organizing
my things.
My room was my haven.

Flash forward to motherhood,
and there I was with a housefull
of small children
and a mountain of laundry
sinkfull of dishes
dirty diapers
and
no energy or time management skills
to get my house in order.
Then

THEN
I came across a story that changed
my Life--
The story is set in England
in the days when Kings and Queens
traveled by horse carriage
through their kingdoms
village by village.

One morning,
a worn-out mother of many children
bid her also worn-out husband goodbye
for the day,
as he left for work.
Turning around,
she looked at the state of her household
which was a mess--
laundry spilling over from the washtub,
the dining table couldn't even be seen
due to the mounds of unattended clutter,
the floors only cleared for small footpaths
between each room.
Then the mother looked at her children:
unkempt, dirty clothes, smudged faces
and filthy feet--
her heart sank at the chaos that was staring back at her.
"Not today, she mumbled. Not today."

Just then,
a neighbor knocked on the door,
and poking his head thru the screen,
announced that
"The Queen is approaching the village!"

The young mother looked at her own appearance--
ragged dress,
stained apron,
her dirty hair tucked into a careless bun...
she was in no shape to meet the Queen.
Not today.
Not today.

She brought her children inside the home
and drew her shutters closed
hoping that the Queen would pass by
and not notice her missing subjects.

The Queen's arrival at the village
was heralded by it's citizens--
they all came out to pay respects to
her Highness...
all except the worn-out young mother
and her children.

The Queen did notice the absence of
this family,
and without a word,
stepped out of the carriage
plucked some wild flowers from the earth
and

knocked on the family's door.

The young mother was so embarrassed,
opening the door,
couldn't even look up at her Queen.
The Queen reached out and took
the young mother's hand,
and placed the wildflowers in it.
She smiled at the young mother
and climbed back into her carriage
to continue her journey.


The young mother could hardly believe
the graciousness of the Queen!
She stared at the wildflowers
for a moment,
and then decided to put them in
the best vase she had!

Digging under the cupboard
way
way
way
in the back,
she found a dusty pottery vase.
She ran it under water,
cleaning it off to a gleam,
filled the vase with water
and gently tucked the wildflowers
inside.

She looked around the house
to see where to put her special treasure--
where would it be most appreciated?--she wondered.
Ah ha!--
She set it in the center of the dining table.

Stepping back,
she noticed all the clutter on the table that
distracted from the simple beauty
of the wildflowers.
Quickly,
she cleared the table,
wiped it down
and again,
stood back with admiration.
Better, she thought.
Then a chain of reactions
took over--
wouldn't the wildflowers look even better
if I cleaned the kitchen too?
And the kitchen would look better if
I cleaned the livingroom?
And the livingroom would feel so much better
if the rest of the house were clean too.
Room after room,
she tended and cleaned,
humming a happy tune
as she went along.
The children joined their mother,
each anxious to share this happy day.
After the house was clean,
the mother looked over her brood
and warmed up some water over the fire
and you guessed it--
cleaned them up too.

She put dinner on,
set the table as best as she could,
with worn dishes carefully arranged
around the beautiful wildflowers.
As she lay down a plate,
she caught her own reflection--
"Oh no,
this will not do!
Not today!", she said to herself.
And then she tended to her own appearance.


When the young father came home,
he barely recognized his own home
and family--
he looked at his wife curiously,
and all she could do was point to the
little pottery vase of wildflowers
and say,
"The Queen came by today."

~~~

So I read this story to my husband
at the time
and the next day when he came home from work,
he brought home fresh flowers for me
and a tradition
a habit
whatever you wanna call it--
was born.


I love fresh flowers--
any kind
any color
I love 'em all.
And they have the same affect on me
as the woman in the story.
Mr Wonderful as well as my children
are sweet to me in that I usually have fresh flowers
on my dinner table
nearly all the time.
It makes me happy.

So try it.
Even if you have to buy your own favorite petals
at the grocery store today--
buy them
dust off your most favorite vase,
and see if they don't help to motivate you!