Saturday, September 11, 2010

Laundry

Do you ever stop to smell your kids clothes as they come out of the dryer? Your nose, pressed to soft blanket, inhales deeply taking in the wonderful odor of childhood. The smell of clean lingering in your mind before it becomes overtaken by dirt, grass, play dough, food, or worse...

Or, does seeing the clothes flash you back to a moment in time where your child was wearing that outfit? Maybe the new jeans for the first day of school? Or, the orange stripped shirt he was wearing when he was sent to the hospital for the first time. Or, maybe the sweet little footie jammies she wore as her arms chubby arms stretched out to you when you entered the room and you clearly heard "mama" for the first time. (tear) The carpenter jeans he wore when he took a first step. Each piece of clothing representing a day, a season, a moment along life's journey. Do you ever smile doing the laundry?

Do you ever neatly fold each piece of their clothing, pressing along the seams, realizing they won't be wearing those clothes too much longer before they move on to the next size? Realizing it is but a passing moment and all too soon those little clothes will be taken over by something much larger, resembling that of your spouse? Do you ever pause to be thankful while you're doing laundry?

Do the clothes ever trigger a conversation or a sound? The sound of padded jammies running down the wood floor hallway. The sound of a zipper being discovered for the first time. A conversation about who makes clothes, who makes the people that make clothes, who is God? A conversation between you and your child. Do you ever feel connected to their thoughts, their dreams while doing laundry?

Have you ever washed clothes, neatly folded them and set them aside in a box in order to pull out the next size? Have you changing out the newborn clothes for the 0-3 month or put your 3 year old in 5T and realized he isn't so little anymore? Do you ever cry doing laundry?


Yea, me neither... ;)



5 comments:

  1. Excellent, Greta. Welcome to the other blog world.

    You've always had a sweet writing voice that's touching and reverent. Hope you find this kind of writing rewarding.

    Love you,

    Nikki

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  2. SO sweet. Your an amazing mother! I was going little miss's laundry the other day and remembered a card someone had gotten me for one of my shower and it said "Congrats, laundry just got a whole lot cuter" :) So true. I was crying thinking about her in them!

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  3. I love your writing Greta! This is an awesome post, and NO, I have never felt like that doing laundry. It's definitely not one of my favorite chores. But maybe this will make me think next time. :) I HAVE, however definitely had those emotions when rummaging through the drawer only to pull something out that no longer fits. And just yesterday I packed up more clothes that Levi's grown out of. It gets me emotional every time. EVERY TIME. {sigh}
    Thanks for giving me a new perspective on one of my least favorite chores!! x

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  4. Thank you so much for the follow! I love this post!! I have definitely laughed AND had tears while packing up Serenity's clothes and getting out the next size. When I see the preemie sleepers at the store I can hardly believe she was ever that small. It is so rewarding and so hard to watch them learn and grow. (Sigh) Pictures, pictures, pictures...I take a bazillion, lol. I am so looking forward to reading future posts!!!

    Angel

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  5. Oh so THIS is what you mean when you say you love folding clothes! That's awesome, because for a moment there I thought I was dealing with someone more neurotic than I am.

    But yes, I have to agree. Packing up those outgrown clothes send me to tears, sometimes because of nostalgia, but more often than not, it's because some still have tags on them. All that money spent on unworn clothes that have gone past the return/exchange period send me to tears.

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