Cleanliness

[Guest guest]

Well, guys,

This seems to be my week to stir and start things. But I m seeing some

really great comments on other threads, that are worthy of their own.

So let s toss this ball around some.

My nada seemed to have a pathological aversion to cleaning her home.

This was true when it was my home as a child , and her own homes as an

adult. ( make the big person, BP s never reach adult status. )

Nada was a hoarder. (

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/childrenofhoarders/

<http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/childrenofhoarders/> ) When I

was young, I remember a pattern. Dishes did not get washed. Laundry

did not get done. The house was not just cluttered, it was filty.

Then Dad would blow up and they would have a major fight. She would pout

and cry and run around being hurt because he was so unreasonable and

never helped her ( He was in school and working 2 jobs, she did

nothing.) Then she would go into a flurry of activity and clean

everything immaculately.

And was done with cleaning, till the next cycle. I never brought

friends home. The cleanliness was part of that, of course the nada ism

was a part as well.

When nada was older, she was a pastor. I visited several times in her

home, parsonages of the churches. She would still have rooms full of

boxes after years living there. She would not get up and let her dogs

out, so there were animal feces in various places and states of dryness

around the house. The filth was so bad that each church finally

complained and she had to move on. When she would stay with me, the

only way her dog ever go to to out to excrete was if me or my wife let

her out.

When she retired, it got so bad, that she had 4 storage buildings all

full, her apartment so full you could not get in the door without

walking on bags of stuff, 2 and 3 deep in every room. She would drive

thru the alleys and pick up things people had put out. Once, a family

ducked out on their rent, and left town. The landlord put all their

stuff in the street. She went and got car load after car load of it.

She would sleep in her car outside her door because she couldnt get to

her bedroom. She would come here, and start the same stuff, till I had

to make her go home. She would go to friends , relatives, and hang out

till bedtime and fall asleep on the porch or something to try and stay

there rather than go home and clean up a place to stay.

She didnt like to shower or wash her hair much either. Told me a year

before she died, that she hadnt had a bath in months, just washed off in

the sink now and then. She also told me, angrily, ( another boundery

violation here) about the nurse at her ob/gy Dr telling her she had to

pay attention to her personal hygeine before she came for an

appointment. Instead of being embaressed and changing her habits, she

was offended that the girl would do so. Not thinking of course, how it

was for a nurse to tell a 70 year old woman to wash her private areas

before coming to the Dr.

So, there s my horror stories about nada and cleanliness.

Anyone else?

Doug