I didn’t know of dirt until my wife moved in.
Three weeks ago today my wife Sana arrived in the United States, and the phrase “salt on my wound” took on new meaning.
I’ll explain.
I moved into a small apartment in Virginia Beach this past March and it was perfect for its purposes. I needed something small and without the ironclad contracts and crazy “early termination” fees for when I would inevitably need to go to Vietnam to be with my wife while her visa processed. Between moving here and there, I ended up staying in the place a total of 12 weeks between March and October. I was a bachelor while in Virginia Beach, so between my personal standards of cleanliness and the place being unoccupied more than half the time before the two of us arrived…
Well, it took Sana a bit of time to adjust to her new digs.
The adjustment period continues to this very day in fact.
At first I was like, “What’s this woman’s problem? It’s not that dirty. The place was unoccupied for weeks before we got here, give me a break.”
But the more I looked around, I realized just how dirty the place really is. Dust and gunk on the bathroom floors; general schmutz basically all over the place. (Thank God I thought to keep my fridge plugged in, that would have been ugly.)
Before Sana got here, I was just going about my own business, doing my thing. The place is decent by my standards. Not terribly cluttered, but won’t be used in any advertising spots for Scrubbing Bubbles (maybe the before shot, definitely not the after) any time soon. But it took a gal of Sana’s cleanliness standards to walk in and immediately declare it “unclean”.
Truth be told, it’s what I was hoping for when I brought Sana into my life, not just my home. I’m just not all that great when it’s just me; I need a good woman to keep me clean, honest and civil. Sana fits the bill and then some.
It’s kind of how I view helping someone produce their podcast. Sure, anyone can do it themselves. The technical aspects are not terribly difficult. But anything that’s done alone isn’t even half as good as it can be with some help – especially someone who does the thing you’re doing all the time.
It took having a person of Sana’s standards of cleanliness for me to see how dirty I am; without her I would have been content as a slob, and teaching my son the same thing. But isn’t that why we men seek women in the first place? We know we can be better than who we are by ourselves.
I’m not in the business of dispensing relationship advice any more profound than that, but I am in the business of cleaning up things like podcasts, videos, audiobooks and making them all gussied up for public consumption. If you or someone you know is in need of our services, here’s the link to learn more: