THE THINGS WE LEARN

I ran the mop across the wood floors, a task that I had done many times before. Today was a heavy clean to wash away the muddy movements of my dogs. Sloshing the mop in the bucket full of water, I raised it slightly and quickly rolled the handle between the palms of my hands, forcing the mop head to swish like an agitator. I smiled as a memory kept hidden in my brain seeped to the surface of my thoughts.

I was six, maybe seven, when I first learned to clean a mop-head properly. I was living in Spain at the time, and our family had hired a maid to help my mom with daily chores. We were a family of seven, and to our maid, we were like her children. I remember watching her one day as she briskly mopped the tile of the living room floor. I was fascinated with her ability to move the mop through her agile hands, propelling the mop head up and down between her palms while the head moved back and forth. She had smiled and said, “You try…” and I did. I was afraid of spilling water all over the floor, so I slowly rolled the mop stick between my tiny hands. The head swished back and forth.

“Good,” she had encouraged as she smiled. “Now lift and roll.” I did as I was told, and low and behold, the mop head came up and out of the water while still agitating. I giggled and so did our maid, Tata. I tried a few more times before giving up the mop to the expert. It was this simple lesson that remained with me throughout my life. Not just the lesson on how to clean a mop head in a bucket of water, but how to take the time to teach someone something they would use for the rest of their lives.

As I continued cleaning, I thought about all the weird things I had learned over the years because of that special person that took the time to teach me. My mother’s bread, molded with my tiny hands, punched, floured, punched, rolled. My father’s instructions for changing a tire by myself and checking the oil. My brothers’ on how to shoot a basketball, catch a baseball, and flirt with guys. My grandmother with crocheting, my grandfather on packing a pipe, my aunt on making pies, my uncle on catching fish, my cousins on wrestling and hockey. The things I have learned have been numerous and without a doubt beneficial to me…. All because someone took the time to teach me.

I poured the dirty water out and put the mop away. I realize at that moment that it wasn’t the tasks that I learned that have been invaluable, but the interaction with the people who taught me. For each person that took a moment out of their day to be with me, has filled my life with happy memories, memories far more precious than the things I learned.