May Palacpac, Storyteller

There it is, resting ominously in one corner. It can no longer be ignored.

It had grown into a huge pile from all the moving we’ve had to do, on top of projects I had to complete, and the craziness of cleaning up after the kids and keeping them well-fed.

It glares at me, silently pointing out the inevitable. The dirty clothes need to be washed.

Husbands are bad at laundry

Jay volunteered to take care of it, wanting me to rest my fingers which developed some sort of blisters from the new chemical combination they’ve done on the laundry and dishwashing soaps.

The new combination had been so strong that lately, we’ve been noticing holes on our most comfortable shirts.

No, he didn’t want me to touch those dirty clothes, but I know his routine all too well.

He’ll dump about 20 pieces into the washing machine which would be just about the number of clothes that’ll have been done within the week. By that time, a new batch of laundry would have piled up.

The laundry shop temptation

We contemplated on sending them over to the laundry shop.

Laundry will be done in about 4 days, all of it. All we’ll need to do is pick up the neatly folded clothes and stash them in their respective clothes cabinets.

Then, we remembered why we’ve stopped patronising laundry shops. Our dirty clothes come back looking just about the same as when we’ve tossed them into the hamper, only softer and smelling better.

I have a suspicion that on-commission laundry employees just might be spinning our clothes on fabric softeners to get as many of the laundry in schedule done for the day.

Nah, we need to hold off the laundry shop option. Somebody’s got to do the laundry and that somebody has to be me.

Get the priorities in order

I look around the house, making sure I had all priorities for the day done before I get on with it: Feed the kids, check. Bathe the kids, check. Clean the house, check. Homeschool lessons, check.

The sun was up after days of downpour, laundry couldn’t have been done at a better time.

I set up the younger kids to watch their favorite Sesame Street DVD and asked Pablo, our very reliable 6-year old, to holler if the baby starts prying off the keys on my laptop so I can rush back in to salvage what I can.

I lock the front door before hauling the dirty clothes to the back of the house where our beloved washing machine waits.

Get the laundry done!

I fill a pail with water by the faucet, carrying it over the machine, some of the water spilling out in my unsuccessful attempt to lift a pail full of water.

Man! These things are heavy.

I make a mental note — buy a hose.

I prepare the basin for the rinse, sigh and imagine how life would be much easier if we have those driers, too. I pour some of the powdered soap into the water and made it spin a few to mix it in.

I start sorting out the clothes, the whites had to go in first, I know, and I’m usually very strict with that.

With not much space to separate the whites from the colored and the blacks and so forth –not with this pile, the goal IS to get the laundry done, after all; so I just threw in the whites with the colored, making sure that these are the types that don’t stain. It’s one of those days when the term “simplify” apply.

The end of the day had me a long line of clothes up for drying. I felt both relieved and satisfied, and yes, having a certain sense of accomplishment.

And that’s only been 1/3 of the pile.

The sky didn’t look so gray anymore, I expected sun the next day. I was right!

By mid-morning, most of the clothes were dry, and I was able to go through another pile of laundry. It went on the day after that– the lifting of pails, the washing, the rinsing, the hanging up to dry.

Then, the rain showers came again, but my laundry’s over and done. I’ve folded every shirt, every pair of shorts, hung every blouse, every collared shirt, every pair of jeans.

It’s a success story. A laundry success story.

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“in everything give thanks” 1 Thessalonians 5:18a

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones” Luke 16:10.