Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Good Work
I started doing our laundry after my helpers broke our washing machine for the nth time several years ago. I haven't stopped and our washer hasn't conked out since. When I built my house, I made sure the laundry room was upstairs, right next to my study. I have to say it is one of my most-used spaces! Since I've taken over this task, our clothes are lasting longer, nothing turns pink, shrinks or is damaged. Everything lasts longer, my whites don't ever turn gray, and the delicates are always nicely cared for.
My friends laugh at my thing for laundry but to me it's one of the most therapeutic household chores! I love putting a load in and waiting for the dirt to rise, knowing everything will come out clean, renewed and ready for another round of living. It is truly one of my joys.
Folding laundry is another zen experience for me and is a sort of review of my life. I can tell so much about the week just from the clothes I fold. I remember with a pang of relief that a child was sick (and is well at last), because of the unusual amount of pajamas I had to wash. I can sense how roughly my children played in school by the pile of extra shirts and clothes I am taking extra time to fold. I also feel that I am putting my touch on their clothes, getting in there in ways that will hold them when they are not with me. It is a quiet time full of stories told and untold--yet another way of holding my family close.
Some people have looked at my laundry room and me in awe, as if it were such an impossible tandem, but my household chores ground and calm me. They put me right at the center of my family, so that no matter how badly the day goes, how imperfect or short-tempered I was, I know that I am there still, right where I need to be. I know that my children will feel my care everywhere--there in the food they eat, there in the clean clothes they wear.
Housework is good work. I am happy that my hands are able to care for my boys and I know that they will grow up with a fuller sense of what it means to have a family.
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