Laundry

My back was stiff from being in bed sick, so I did my laundry. The washer finished, and I loaded almost everything into the dryer. As I put the last pair of shorts into the dryer, I noticed white dots, then I realized I’d seen others. It looked like wet paper. A sticker in the washing machine is a very common occurrence with four kids. There was a lot more than I expected. There was paper on my shorts, in the washing machine, and on the floor, too.

Then I noticed the shorts were hanging weirdly in my hand, like they were snagged. Sure enough, I found a piece of gum stuck to them. How did a piece of gum get in here? It was unchewed, so maybe someone left a piece in the washer? There was a lot of paper for one piece of gum. Thinking it might have been two pieces, I started pulling some clothes out of the dryer to inspect. The first shirt I grabbed had a piece stuck to it. I found six pieces of gum, the wrappers, the box, and what remained of the plastic wrap.

As I picked wet papers and gooey gum off my clothes and out of the washer AND dryer, I was trying to pin this on someone. I know not to wash gum with my laundry, so this had to be someone else. Or maybe I scooped it up off the top of the washer when I loaded my clothes. Or someone else’s clothes were in my hamper. When I exhausted the list of people to blame, I started getting upset more generally. “I’m sick. I shouldn’t even have to do laundry.” Which is a real load of you-know-what.

Why do I have excuses for my minor mistakes, but I consider other people’s mistakes as personality defects? How often do I blame others for my carelessness? Could I avoid some of my woes by being more alert?

Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.