It’s the small and uncomplicated things in life that really contribute to happiness. The best moments I’ve had with my kids don’t involve fancy trips and expensive adventures. The times we’ve shared over a Popsicle or while feeding stale bread to ducks are the most meaningful to me. Some might describe those activities as mundane. Regardless, they work for me.
This notion of the ‘little things in life’ can be extended to several areas of my mama existence. After my washing machine recently broke down, I realized that nothing makes my life run more smoothly than a fully functioning washing machine. Quite frankly, I’d sacrifice almost anything to have a consistent and reliable method of washing clothes – whether it is the sacrifice of rare “me time”, the even rarer “date night”, or even the fully extinct “girls’ night out”. All those happenings are meaningless if I live among urine soaked bed sheets and school uniforms decorated with dried up and crusted on banana.
With so many humans living under one roof, it makes for a lot of laundry – two loads a day to be exact and that excludes the special contributions made by bed-wetters. A day off laundry compares to taking a holiday from work only to return and wonder why you even bothered. That first day back at the office you find yourself buried in e-mail and voicemail – the piles and files staring you down, taunting you. You don’t even know where to start and catching up seems like a daunting and impossible task. Such is a “laundry holiday” at my house.
The beloved washing machine started off seeming a bit under the weather. Immediate action needed to be taken because taking a ‘wait and see’ approach with large appliances is out of the question. I was facing a busy day of work meetings which forced me to delegate the operation to daddy-o. I assumed he’d know a guy who would call a guy who knows a guy, and then a guy would come to our house to fix it immediately.
Daddy-o let the power and responsibility go to his head and without consultation purchased a brand new washer and dryer. Did you get the ‘without consultation’ part? How about the part that mentions him buying a dryer to replace our perfect dryer? He then announced that the new appliances would be delivered…..in FIVE days! I can’t remember much about what happened next because I started hyper-ventilating and passed out.
Eventually I came to, the new washing machine (and dryer!) arrived and we were back on track. But during those five days, the kiddos discovered several new activities including burying each other in filthy towels and mountain climbing on a clothing mound of mess. Again, it is the little things in life, isn’t it?
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AWWW…that was nice!!!
Little things in life – totally agree!
I love how there’s a label on your laundry basket