I learned something about myself today. I like doing  laundry. I like to do laundry for my family, for myself, for my daughter. It didn't occur to me until this morning when I was loading 1 of 3 loads, and found myself enjoying every moment of this "mundane" routine. I enjoy the process, the satisfaction of completing a task. I have made it a bit of a ritual for myself.. On Monday, do laundry.

I am not sure when this occurred, or when this simple domestic task turned into a joy for me.. sounds weird, maybe? Then I started reflecting back about WHY / HOW could this be something I love? All these mom writers and bloggers talk about laundry and cleaning and house chores as rote, routine, and try to encourage me ( the reader) to enjoy it more, To let it be part of our love for our children, and to be present when doing these simple "mindless" tasks..I just finished reading Hand Wash Cold by Karen Maezen Miller, very powerful and inspiring book. She continues to amaze me.  I also read something recently ( NO IDEA WHERE, I think one of my morning blogs.. )  that told a story of a  yoga teacher deciding to stop teaching classes b/c she needed to go home and do the laundry and the dishes. She wanted more time to be deeply connected to and to  be present with these life chores. And she felt that teaching yoga classes was interfering with her doing less and actually being present to what needed attention at home.

Then I thought back to my laundry. When I was little, my mom and I lived in an apartment that did not have a washer or dryer. The good news with this apartment was that it was around the corner from a laundromat so we didn't have to walk too far with our BIG BAGS.. we didn't do laundry weekly. or maybe we did, I don't remember. All I remember were BIG FULL HEAVY BAGS. But, I was little so not sure how big they really were.. and we would collect quarters all week, all month. Quarters were like GOLD! sliding each one into the perfect slots. I had to stand on tip toes, trying to see the slots. filling all 4 slots and then pushing the lever in. Success was when the lever came back out empty. Failure was when 1-2 of the quarters were left behind.. WHICH WAS DREAD. this meant broken machine, a loss of money, AND we had to move all the clothes to a new washer. Sometimes our clothes would already have the detergent on them. And sometimes this would happen with the dryer so we'd have to move all the wet clothes.. again! agh! that wasn't fun.

Laundry days were LONG and "boring". Mom would let me get a snack, that would last about 5 minutes. I would watch the timers on the machines. Anxiously. waiting. Most of the time I rode the laundry carts around the room, pushing them into walls, machines, pushing them and hopping on.. It smelled warm and cozy in the laundromat and generally was pretty empty. Just my mom and me. These are good memories.

Having a washer and dryer in my own home now is quite the treat. It's fabulous to be able to wash things when I want, without saving quarters or lugging huge bags down the street.  Our stories are with us. Our past is intertwined with our future. We are products of our experiences.  I love doing laundry.