RB: Julia, Jan 19 - 4:38am

There are two types of people in this world: Those who feel the inexplicable need to clean their home before leaving on a trip, and those who don't.

I am the former.

I cannot explain why this is, exactly, except to say that the thought of coming home from a trip - vacation, business or family-related - to an apartment in disarray makes me slightly nauseous.

That said, no matter what I do, my place is always trashed two days after I’m back. There’s something about the unpacking (or perhaps lack thereof) which wrecks havoc on the rest of the place, and 24 hours later, I can’t see my chair. A week later, I can’t see my floor.

So, knowing this, why do I bother staying up the night before obsessively cleaning?

(Given the context of tomorrow’s trip, perhaps I should have entitled this post “Apres Trip Cleanliness: The Audacity of Hope”)

I even washed Lilly’s dog toys. Ummm … Note that I have not packed yet. And I’m sleepy. And I have a column due tomorrow.

But my apartment is spotless!