There’s nothing like a clean, well-lighted sink.  

Got three of them shining the other day. I usually wipe one every morning I shower, removing the half-used toothpaste drops, moustache trimmings and occasional pieces of hair from a head that doesn’t need to lose any more. Hair, that is.  

Did not always do this. Clean the bathroom sink, not lose hair. Started it about two years ago when living with a bunch of veterans, most of whom failed to clean up after using the sink in our two bathrooms. That’s two bathrooms for nearly 30 guys. Women used an employees facility for privacy.  

Saw a guy clean up after himself. He put so much of himself into doing it, I admired his actions, and wanted to be like him. I started to pick up after myself and found that I got a sense of “reward” out of doing something for someone else and receiving nothing in return except for the feeling that I had done some good in service to another. 

 Have done it at home ever since and continue to get that feeling of goodness, peace and calm. I am simply “living in the moment” when I work. I don’t think of any thing while cleaning except for cleaning. I enjoy seeing the spigot shine. All over, not  just the long part where water comes out, but the base where the two levers are, the hot and cold handles. 

A clean, well-lighted place awaits

 I wipe a big H and the C until I see no fingerprints, no markings on the round porcelain top. Handle’s gotta shine, before I shift my attention to the metal base where it comes into contact with the porcelain sink. That’s where the grime often gathers, particularly, at the bottom of the metal plate. I scrub extra hard to get all rust-like colors away from the sink.  

Next, I follow the pattern of the top of the sink. We have a round indentation to the 2nd floor bathroom sink at the Conshohocken, PA home. I wipe along the lines,  feeling like a Michelangelo creating a beautiful work of art. Sinks are works of art, come to think of it. Clean ones. Well-lighted ones. Just looking at one can set a good mood, get me feeling more eager in the morning to face the day. A dirty sink, subconsciously, may set me off on the wrong track. Why take that chance?  

I cleaned all the kitchen counters before cleaning the kitchen sink. Boy talk about rust stains. Had to leave “Soft Scrub” settle into the streaks that led to the disposal opening. Spent more time on the sink than any of the counter tops, but looking back, (actually, looking down and toward the front of me) I can understand how some women feel about having the day go so much better when they’ve cleaned the sink the night before.  

Haven’t cleaned the kitchen sink the last few days. But, I’ve gotten into the habit of making the first floor powder room water spouts shine above the clean, well-lighted sink. Doing it every day, whether it needs it or not.  

It does. Need it.  

Every day.  

Just like me. Every day. It’s meditative. I “lose” myself in it, and know that what I do gives me so much meaning despite what someone may say is simply a mundane task. It is in the mundane that I find a clean, well lighted place. That I can be a “clean, well-lighted place.” Or should I say a “clean, well-lighted  person?”