The Joys of Cleanliness

I've never been a great housekeeper though, in my younger days, before career and family, I kept a pretty good apartment. However, with the stresses of career, a child, a larger house, etc., it has just gotten to be more than I can keep a grasp on. So, we recently employed a housekeeper to come in once every other week for a few hours. I've thought about doing this several times before and could just never justify the expense in our already shoestring budget. However, as I walked into my newly cleaned house last night, I could kick myself for not doing it sooner.
Our house is now cleaner than it has been in years. It actually took my breath away when I walked in and saw how great it looked. She went above and beyond what I expected from "a few hours" and even left a note apologizing for "not finishing." I think I'm in love!
It was amazing to me what coming home to a clean house that I didn't have to clean myself did for my outlook last night. I was tired after a big weekend and a few days of work this week. My normal routine would be to go home and stress about the state of the house and try to get a few chores completed while watching J and then fall into bed too exhausted to sleep well. Instead, I cooked dinner in my sparkling kitchen, played with J for a few hours, then sat down on my clean sofa and watched television until I fell asleep. When I woke up, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the just, as my dad would say. It was pure bliss.
I know the house won't look as clean by this weekend (or maybe even tonight). There will be toys pulled out and left in the floor. There will be dirty dishes in the sink and clean ones on the counter needing to be put away. However, just for last night, it was so nice to walk around the house and admire it, to appreciate the joy of cleanliness.