Years ago, my uncle left his house for a six-month-long training he did across the country. During that time, he was concerned with the amount of dust he thought would accumulate on all his open surfaces while he was away. After his trainings were completed, he came back to the house and braced himself, thinking about all the cleaning he’d have to do. What ended up welcoming him back was a surprise: not a speck of extra dust was in sight.

He later told me that he was wrong all along: the reason dust accumulates on surfaces is actually due to the presence of humans and animals. We are constantly shedding skin and hair cells and particles whether we realize it or not. And all that shedding results in the dust that we can’t stand.

I thought about this as I stared at my coffee table while sitting on the couch during a call today, noticing the thin layer of dust on the clear glass. I’ve had to dust that freaking coffee table off twice in the last two weeks due to obvious dust. And with us being here far more often and for longer periods of time, this dust is just going to keep appearing and reappearing, resulting in my anal self having to dust and clean more. Or, maybe it was just always that dusty and I just never took the time to really notice it….? Or, is it just a combination of all the above?