Cleaning with cancer

We've been using April Lane's Home Cleaning for many years. They come by every week or two and make us happy.

I'm not usually home when the house is cleaned. One bad chemo day, I was home when the cleaner arrived. I didn't want to alarm her, so I made myself visible and told her why I was bald. She didn't say much other than "Okay", and that was the end of that.

Or was it?

She apparently went back to the office and told the operations manager, Samara, about my sitch-ee-ay-shun. Samara emailed me and told me about a program that April Lane's participates in called "Cleaning For A Reason". She asked if I wanted to have my house cleaned through this nonprofit.

Heck, yeah!

So for the past few months, we've been getting a little extra cleaning, which has been a treat. We have a lot of books, and they were embarrassingly dusty, so we had the extra visits concentrate on unembarassing them.

Last week, Samara contacted me again to ask if the Seattle Channel could interview me about our participation in Cleaning for a Reason.

Heck, yeah!

They all showed up this afternoon. Samara, Katie and April arrived from April Lane's, and Roxanne Vainuku and Vincent Pierce from the Seattle Channel.

First, they interviewed Samara about the program and April Lane's participation.

Then they interviewed Katie, an April Lane's cleaner. It was kind of amusing to see how the video producer carefully placed the cleaning supplies in front of Katie, so they'd be in the shot.

Roxanne and Vince were pros, and clearly didn't have a problem with moving around in our crowded little house. Vince knew exactly what shots he wanted, and Roxanne's questions showed that she had clearly done her research.

Vince got shots of Katie dusting, vacuuming and cleaning the sink.

Apparently the Mayor attended a conference about ironing.

They interviewed me, and then they were gone.

Phew!