What inspires love and admiration?
It’s not always what you’d think.

Thursday morning we received delivery on a brand new refrigerator; it’s the first brand new refrigerator I have ever owned in my life, so we were pretty excited. Both my girls were home when the delivery men arrived; they helped me empty out the old fridge which was going to be hauled away. Then as the delivery guys were preparing the old fridge to go out, my eldest daughter began snapping photos of it. This amused the delivery man. He didn’t realize that this not-very-lovely rectangular metal box represented history and familiarity in the life of my daughter. Everyday items – taken for granted – but woven into the fabric and story of our lives.

This fridge was missing it’s handles; the screws became stripped from much wear. My daughter remembers when the handles were still there and how she regularly took the screwdriver from the kitchen drawer to tighten the screws attaching the handle to the door. This kept the handle from flopping around when you tried to open the fridge. But the screws had ultimately failed, thus…no handle.

This fridge also had some velcro door-securing straps attached to the side and front of the fridge. These straps had been there since before my eldest daughter was a baby – over 13 years ago. These were baby safety devises designed to keep little ones from pulling open the door of the fridge and getting into mischief.

This fridge has been with us through several moves and has faithfully served us through the hottest of weather. (It really is a wonder that it has held up for so long!) Inside, it is not pretty: the vegetable bins and accompanying drawer supports are long gone; the remaining shelves are cracked; the floor of the fridge is a continual puddle due to constant dripping, leaking water. I have to keep a towel on the floor to absorb the excess water and leftover food has to be positioned thoughtfully and strategically, so water does not collect inside the food containers. This is the fridge that was hauled away; many memories were linked to it.

Unfortunately, when the refrigerator was removed, a very dirty floor was revealed…a very…dirty…floor. The refrigerator had not been moved for five years…since we moved into our home. I tried to quickly sweep up the mess before the new fridge was moved into place, but no go…it would not sweep up. The gunk seemed to be a mixture of lint and dirt firmly adhered to the floor through a series of water overflows from the laboring, old refrigerator. Well, it didn’t look impossible to clean, but it certainly would not sweep up. So I filled a basin with warm water, liberally wetting the dark gray-brown blotches and started scrubbing. With a little soaking first, the glop came up relatively easy. It looked “horrible”. And it took a few trips to refresh the basin: pouring out the foul, dirty water and replacing it with clean, clear water. I was working away, half on my knees, and half standing up, with one eye on the delivery men, hoping to finish the job before they were ready to bring in the new fridge…when I heard an exclamation of genuine awe and admiration from MG, my eldest daughter, “You’re a good mom!!!”
“Other moms wouldn’t do that!” I gained the highest level of admiration from my daughter…by scrubbing a very dirty floor on my hands and knees! It was unsolicited admiration and it means an awful lot to me; I am a very rich mother.

What inspires love and admiration?
It’s not always what you’d think.