海角大神

I grew up in a messy house. It鈥檚 hard to write those words. But the fact is, I come from a 鈥渃reative鈥� family, and creativity comes with a lot of stuff.

But lately, as I read various essays debating whether women can really 鈥渉ave it all,鈥� I feel grateful that my mom was a failed housekeeper. I remember her explaining to me that while our family might not have a perfect house, we had the important things 鈥� loving relationships and meaningful work. My mom was busy 鈥渉aving it all鈥�: raising two kids and pursuing a successful second career as an artist. She knew what 鈥渋t all鈥� meant to her.

So this Mother鈥檚 Day, I want to thank my mom, Gloria Blasz Logan, for her messy house and the lessons she taught me about being a woman.

My dad, like his dad, is an obsessive collector 鈥� Hawaiian shirts, watches, books, poetry journals, ugly Christmas sweaters (not kidding), you name it. An introverted writer like me, he read endless piles of newspapers and magazines, turning them into hundreds of tiny clippings that covered the dining room table.

He never met a yard sale or a used bookstore that he didn鈥檛 like. And he wasn鈥檛 selfish in his shopping proclivities: For us kids, he filled an entire room of the house with toys. We called it 鈥渢he toy room,鈥� and it remained full long after we outgrew play dates.

My dad wasn鈥檛 a hoarder, but he accumulated far more than he ever threw away, and he didn鈥檛 like people messing with his stuff. If my mom hired someone to clean the house, it was an invitation to a standoff. A professional painter, gregarious volunteer, and voracious reader, she wasn鈥檛 as much of a collector, but she had never been a neatnik. If she disliked cleaning to begin with, my dad鈥檚 habits made her truly hate it.

Having a beautiful house just wasn鈥檛 important to my parents. And while their cluttered, bourgeois-bohemian lifestyle sounds cool now, it didn鈥檛 feel that way when I was living under their roof. My classmates at private school lived in houses that were pristine. I rarely brought friends over, and my parents, who were equally self-conscious, sometimes even discouraged it.

Not being able to bring a friend home from school like a 鈥渘ormal鈥� kid was painful at times. But looking back, I see my mother was modeling liberated womanhood in a way that has shaped me much more than my shame about our unkempt dining room.

Turns out, a messy house just might be the new feminist manifesto.

In her recent New York Magazine cover story Lisa Miller cited a survey from the Families and Work Institute, in which women said that they hated doing housework and yearned for more free time. Yet when the women had more free time, they used it to clean. (Unlike my mom, apparently these women didn鈥檛 need to read all of Proust.)

鈥淧sychologists suggest that perhaps American women are heirs and slaves to some atavistic need to prove their worth through domestic perfectionism,鈥� Miller wrote.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg also writes about the unequal division of household chores in her best-seller 鈥淟ean In,鈥� encouraging women to make their partners 鈥渞eal partners鈥� 鈥� in other words, loosening their domestic perfectionism so that men can be involved at home.

If you have time to lean, you don鈥檛 have time to clean, my mom might say.

But seriously, isn鈥檛 the constant pressure to have a beautiful house just an extension of the pressure women feel to be beautiful? While we teach young girls not to define themselves through their appearances, we seem to have no problem letting adult women be defined by whether or not the dishes are done.

My mom, God bless her, didn鈥檛 spend much time worrying about what other people thought. Sure, she occasionally felt guilty and embarrassed, but mostly she was unapologetic and defiant.

Our messy house was also a lesson about relationships. Instead of trying to change my dad, my mom chose to accept him 鈥� clutter, flaws, and all. She always looked at the positive: 鈥淪ome men gamble or have affairs. Your father just wants to buy some used books.鈥�

As for me, I take after my dad in a big way, so 鈥渘aturally,鈥� for my own partner, I鈥檝e chosen an industrial designer who worships minimalism. But like my mom, my boyfriend is incredibly kind and doesn鈥檛 judge based on appearances. And like my dad, my boyfriend is looking for a lot more than a domestic goddess.

That鈥檚 why I find myself writing tonight, in a new apartment, surrounded by boxes I鈥檓 in no hurry to unpack. It鈥檚 about to be Mother鈥檚 Day, when we celebrate mom for how perfect she is. Or, for me, just the opposite.

Liz Logan is a freelance writer and editor. Her work has appeared in Time; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Martha Stewart Living, among other publications.