On Life and Laundry

I envy Sisyphus and his simple task rolling that stone up the hill. Piece of cake. Any woman who has the stamina to endure kids and cats and dogs and laundry could handle a rock no problem. Tonight I battled the laundry. The clean clothes were piled on the loveseat as tall as me. I folded and folded and got it down to just below the top of the sofa. And tomorrow, when the children come down to get ready for school, half the clean clothes will end up in a jumbled mess on the floor. Rolling a stone up a hill, piece of cake.

 

The mysteries of laundry amaze me. I buy socks, very often, yet I can never find any. Fortunately, tonight the sock gods smiled on me. While not folded, they lay on the ironing board ready for me to match up a pair in the morning. I've often thought of hiding my socks, I'm just afraid that I'd forget where I put them. Before I had kids and cats and dogs, I always had socks.

 

Once upon a time, I ironed clothes. When Sarah and Garrett were babies, I would spend my Sunday afternoon ironing all their little play clothes. The babysitter might judge me if they came wrinkled. I walk past the ironing board several times a day. It mostly holds stuff that I might need later, like socks provided by the gods of hosiery. A cluttered ironing board is really convenient for reasoning to myself that my clothes really don't need to be ironed. If I shake them out and they are still wrinkled, five minutes in the dryer should do the trick. Besides, won't they be wrinkled by the time I get to work anyway. I use the same excuse to avoid fixing my hair in the morning, it'll be a mess by the time I get to work anyway, push snooze a couple more times instead.

 

Some days I threaten to move into a tent in the front yard. It would probably be cleaner. Fresh air would be good for us, well maybe not. If you have kids and cats and dogs, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you don't have kids and cats and dogs, you can borrow mine anytime. They do chores, if they want to, and can sometimes be bribed by quarters and dollars. Everybody should have as much fun as I do.

 

 

Author's Note

published in the August 2009 edition of The Other Herald (http://www.otherherald.com/)

Reviews

[...]

. ha ha ! ... your wit astounds me ... it sparkles in almost every line in this piece of writing ... oh, what a slice of life it is ... brutal and yet so charming ... you are one hard working dudette ... the beauty of it all is not just in your words but in your being you ... i loved the last line especially ... though my life is different from yours, sometimes i wish like saying that to the world ... "everybody should have as much fun" as everyone else ... this was a spectacular read, emily ... maybe just the piece i needed to read right now ... oh, and i do wish a million more naps ... i know you slog a lot ... so much that sometimes i wish i could actually stop you and plead with you to rest ...

[Persnickety]

You hooked me with the Sisyphus parrell.

The monotomy of our day to day life. And Laundry is totally like hauling that damned rock up the hill.

Every time I think I'm finished the rock rolls back down and there is more laundry to do.


BLASTED DAILY CHORES! :)

Good Piece!

[Jillian Polaski]

I love this short piece. You're a good writer when you can make reading about doing laundry sound interesting. I don't have kids or dogs, but I do have cats, and I can relate to this anyway. I'm not sure there are many people who wouldn't be able to relate to doing laundry and that's what makes this piece so spectacular.