I worked at the tennis courts up the hill from my house when I was in high school.  They were also across from the swimming pool so it was a busy place with a lot of foot traffic coming in and out. People of all ages in the community would come in to play on the courts, to get their rackets restrung, and to have lessons.  The clubhouse was also a gathering place for the community for luncheons and parties. I would ride my ten-speed there and back sometimes even though I also owned a car and could drive there much faster.  That was when I was running barefoot and would get in some miles along the canal road for the fun of it on a Saturday morning. 

Oh, to be that carefree and open with time again! 

When I worked at the tennis courts I was often the one who closed at night after tournaments or on the weekends. This meant that I was there by myself and would vacuum the clubhouse before locking up for the night.  There was a specific way that I was told to make sure the carpet looked for the new guests the next day.  I was to start at the far end of the room away from the desk, run the vacuum in an even pattern so you could not see footprints anymore and to work my way across the entire room to erase all evidence of humans walking in the space. Now, this got tricky as I was to then get the vacuum put away in the closet, get my things and lock up for the night without leaving any footprints again.  

No pressure. 

Apparently there were some as I remember it these many decades later.  We’ll not say how many! Whew!  I must have made it and done an ok job as I lived to tell the tale.

I began to be curious about this about a week ago as it seems we all do this. 

Every time we vacuum.  We erase the trace of humans walking in any room we’ve been in. 

We vacuum in nice even lines to show the pattern of vacuum lines and we love it.  It shows we have a clean space.  

There, we say.  Do you see how clean we are? I say this.  I like vacuum lines. I mention them in our home.  It is like the capstone on the end of a project. It is the last thing we do in a room after cleaning the rest of the space. We tuck in chairs, make the beds, straighten the shelves, and then… vacuum the carpet.

And then it hit me.  The room I have pictured is the two toned green room in our house. The one with the clouds on the ceiling. The one with socks still in the drawer with no one wearing those socks. The one where the nieces and nephews and our friends’ kids play with every toy and read every book.  

It is where we live and we love it. 

The room where we have vacuumed the carpet a hundred times and yet…. I would give the moon and stars to have footprints from a certain someone again in that room.  

Here is the question that came to me.  Why do we erase the footprints?  What is that?  

I think I know the answer and yet ….. I am getting curious with it in this one period of time.  I do not have a complete  answer … yet … and there may not be one.  That would be alright. For this is a time that answers come on their own.  

Being in this moment and being able to ask may be the best part.  

Ask your questions. Be curious. The space is here, my friends.