The Observatory: Lazy Edition

I have been wondering if being lazy is embedded in DNA. When I think back to my childhood, I remember my mother making strong note of my laziness. Once, when I was probably four or five years old, we put up our stockings for St. Nick (we did not put out our shoes), along with treats. I got a hanger because I was not in the habit of hanging up my clothes. So this could not really be a nature/nurture thing.

If there was anything my parents were not, it was lazy. Even when we went on vacation, we did not go somewhere to laze around on a beach. My dad drove to specific places so we could see specific things. He stopped at every roadside historical marker (probably just to 'stretch his legs'), and if possible, drove by any state capitol that happened into our path. We decided the capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota, was not to our liking.

Anyway, my propensity to not hang up my clothes continued into my teens. I had a nice old wingback chair next to my closet. Instead of hanging up the clothes, they went right on the chair. Then I would take a half hour or so, when my mom threatened to check on the upstairs room I shared with my sister, and put everything right. Even now, I have to force myself to hang up my coat, taking the four steps to the closet rather than the seven steps to throw it over a chair.

Overall, I suppose my housekeeping leaves something to be desired. I prefer tidy to pristine. The reason I thought about this is the collection of small brass animals (well, not Godzilla—Godzilla is plastic) I have on the windowsill above my kitchen sink. I have been looking at them for a few months now, thinking I should probably take three minutes and wash off the dust and cobwebs. Yep, I should do that. But I don't, and I am pretty sure it is simply not in my DNA. I like that reasoning.

I did break down and clean them and the windowsill for these pictures. I guess I just need a good reason to go above and beyond my inborn inclinations.