Clean your windows

We own a 1918 bungalow and one of the things we love about it is the front porch. It’s enclosed and has eight windows and a screen door that’s about 80 percent glass. The house is set back enough from the street that the noise isn’t bad and we don’t feel like we’re on display for our neighbors. It’s a great spot to sit and read or enjoy a glass of wine. Harper, our dog, loves to rest her chin on the pneumatic piston for the screen door and gaze out at the street. The cats like to sit in the window or nap in the sunny spots.

Windows get dirty, of course, and these aren’t the tilt-in kind. You have to go outside with the stepladder and juggle the Windex and roll of paper towels. It’s a pain, so we put it off. For the ninth time, Stephanie will say: “Gee, the windows are getting kind of dirty.” And for the ninth time, I’ll say: “Uh-huh.” It’s easier to grumble than to take care of it.

Yesterday — you guessed it — we cleaned the windows. Guess what? I have beautiful, clear views of the pink begonias and the Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, which is so funky and eccentric it never fails to make me smile. The white petunias are positively blushing next to the showy purple asters and the strutting pink cannas. It’s a view that puts a spring in your step.

Are there dirty windows in your life that you grumble about instead of just cleaning them? Maybe there’s a conversation you need to have with a family member that you keep putting off because it’s going to be uncomfortable. Maybe you’ve lost your job and you cling to the bitterness instead of taking the first step forward on a new career. Perhaps you prefer to complain about those extra five pounds you want to lose instead of exercising more or eating better.

Yes, it’s an old advertising slogan but Just Do It. Clean your windows. Most of the time you’ll just enjoy the view more but, once in a while, you’ll see a whole new world that you otherwise would have missed.