Coming Clean
In a recent Associated Press article, I read that Hillary Clinton was required to reveal the itinerary of how she spent her days as the First Lady. Though not a huge fan of good ol’ Hil, I was filled with sympathy. To have to maintain a written account of how you spent eight years of your life and then release it to the public for them to read and criticize seems like an awful invasion of privacy.
The article focused on Hillary’s activities during the week that Bill’s extracurricular activities came to light. While her schedule included reading to school children and choosing flowers for a White House function, I’m sure her heart wasn’t in those things. When I discovered that my own husband (now ex-husband, thankfully) had a few extra curriculars of his own, I sure wouldn’t have wanted the entire planet to know what I did that week. I mean, truly, it would be hard not to think differently of a person who spent a solid week under the covers, coming out only to pee and send nasty emails to a certain will-remain-nameless someone. Not that I did that, mind you.
Just getting through the weeks after Bill’s admission must have been incredibly difficult, but being forced to keep a list of her activities – as though her life was business as usual – must have made it even harder. And even beyond that, who wants the whole world to know how they spend their time on a daily basis?
I mean, I really don’t want anyone to know that I sometimes watch “Oprah” when I’m supposed to be mopping floors, and that I occasionally take a nap when I should be defrosting my freezer. It’s my time and it’s my business how I spend it.
My husband often comes home from work and asks me what I did that day. We have four children, so to me, the question seems rather self-explanatory. Nonetheless, I usually respond that I bought groceries and did a few loads of laundry. He nods and smiles, completely satisfied with my answer. I don’t tell him that I also read 11 chapters in the latest Nora Roberts romance – and that I read the steamy parts twice! – or that I stopped for lunch at a fast food joint, ate the hugest, most fat-laden cheeseburger they sell, and have been paying for it all afternoon.
I mean, really, who needs that much honesty in their relationship? Do I really have to come clean on everything I do all day? Especially when the very thing I’m supposed to be doing is, well, cleaning?
But what if I did have to keep a list of my daily activities? Even if the only person I had to show it to was my husband, I must admit that things would have to change. I cringe when I imagine the schedule I’d have to give him for today alone. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details, but let me just say that it contains far more Dr. Phil than Mr. Clean.
But when I’m completely honest with myself, I know how much cleaner and more organized my house would be if I did have to write down my daily activities for my husband’s perusal. Yeah, my house would be neater, but my life would be a lot less interesting.
But back to Hillary, the article did say that out of the 11,000 pages of daily schedules she turned in, nearly 5000 of them had portions that were blacked out. Hmmm, how intriguing. I can just take a Magic Marker to the parts I don’t want anyone to see? Why, that’s the best of both worlds! Honesty, but not too much honesty.
Maybe there’s something to this schedule thing. Looking around, I must admit that my house could definitely use some assistance in the organizational department. And so could I – being the pillar of self-control that I’m not. Maybe this activity list is just what I need. Write down everything I do during the day and then take a Sharpie to the lazy parts. And the steamy parts. And the sleepy parts. And anything at all related to the bathroom.
Oh, heck, this won’t work at all.
There wouldn’t be anything left for my poor Hubby to read.