Three boys live here. I am looking around my house and it is in desperate need of some major cleaning. The lives of three young boys and mine come crashing into each other here. Soccer shoes, golf clubs, backpacks, notes from school, band aids and reminders of events coming up. Our walls are covered with pictures reminding us of the time that has passed by so quickly. I look at the mess and I think I should be getting the cold weather clothes packed away and the warm weather clothes out. Another job to do, and inevitably creating yet another mess to clean. It is hard keeping up when I consider the trade off ― the other things, the fun things, the fulfilling things going on in my life.

Three boys live here ― three boys who seem to live in the kitchen. The pantry door is always left open and the kitchen is a few degrees colder then the rest of the house because of the added cooling system of the refrigerator door always being open.

I think about doing some major, deep cleaning sometimes, but then I think, what is more important in life: completing endless housekeeping tasks or making memories? Do I want my boys to grow up and remember living in a spotless house and eating gourmet dinners, or do I want them remembering how we played together, watched movies together and how I knew as much about “Crash Bandicoot” and “Jak and Daxter” as they did? We go to the driving range and bowling alley, we play baseball, soccer, basketball and golf in the yard. We play board games and computer games together and read stories at night.

As a mother, that is the legacy I want to leave; the constant cleaning and endless scrubbing will wait, our life will not.

Three boys live here, but they won't live here forever. So for now, straightened up is good enough; I choose to create memories.