If you ever came to my house to watch me do laundry (and why wouldn't you???) you would witness a strange scene of me sniffing everyone's (clean) underwear. To be fair, I sniff the other articles of clothing when they come out of the dryer, but I don't feel weird about it until I get to the underwear. I have a little obsession with clean laundry and the way it smells and the sound of the dryer, ahhhh and the washer when it fills with water and churns the suds around and around and around and then around and around and around the other way. Look, I'm getting all wistful and stuff.
I enjoy laundry so much that I count laundry as one of my hobbies. It's a good thing I love it, because with three kids and two active (sort of) adults in the house I have a lot of it to do, so I might as well enjoy it.
In college I had to write a paper called Zen and the Art of _______. The purpose of the exercise was to make us understand the pleasure that could be attained in everyday, menial tasks. Now, I finally get what they were trying to teach me, like, fifteen years later. I can get as much pleasure from folding lovely, soft towels as I can from doing something really spectacular.
I gotta be honest, I so did not get this at eighteen. I think I rattled off a paper about how much I LOVED, of all things, are you ready for this? . . . seriously, I don't think you are . . . no, for real, it was . . . ironing. Ugh!
I mean I get laundry, it's clean and warm and it smells good and it's all crisp and the hum of the dryer and the swish, swish of the washer and the way a new dryer sheet feels between your fingers . . . okay, I really like it, but ironing! Ironing is sweaty and dangerous and, good grief, you gotta make sure everything is laying flat first or else you put creases where you don't want them and sometimes the kids will run in the kitchen while I'm ironing and I worry that someone will trip on the cord and the hot iron will fall on their head and I have a real to life scar from ironing that I'll have, like, forever!
What was I talking about? Yeah, I really like to do laundry. Plus, it's the only time that I get to quote Shakespeare in my everyday life: "Out damn spot, out I say, one, two." And let's face it, everyone could use a little more Shakespeare in their life.
I always enjoyed walking up to your door when you lived down the street...Your dryer vent was right there...always smelled so fresh :) miss you Holly Sessoms! Melody
ReplyDeleteHollie, I also love doing laundry, well, at least folding, I'm not so in tune with all that smelling and the water doing all that stuff, but to sit and fold laundry is my favorite thing to do because it's the only time you can sit down without feeling guilty!!! Well, that was when my kids were little...now I can sit down anytime and I do!! Love this blog, very funny as well as informative! Love, Aunt Frannie
ReplyDelete