Alien in the Laundry

Originally uploaded by laundrylessons.

A myriad of objects have landed in the bottom of the washer. This week it was an alien. The thing is I don’t think he was alone. His comrades seem to have infiltrated the house.

My husband felt alien this week. Did one of these little blue men crawl in his ear as he slumbered, not so silently, by the way? I think the name of his space invader was “work stress”. When John arrived home each day this week, his fun loving nature seemed shadowed by a greater force, definitely under the influence of some unnatural life form.

Then as I sent Paige off to school, I realized something had come over her. Her once bouncy, naturally-curly hair looked foreign. Ahh, I see now that the “hair-straightening” alien visited her in the bathroom. Wasn’t it just yesterday that she wanted hot rollers? In a flash these unfamiliar people seemed to be all over my house.

JP gave up video games one evening and laid in bed reading for over an hour. His forehead did not feel warm. But gosh darn it I’m sure there was some residue of “reading is fun” invader in his ear. These aliens must be crawling into my family somehow.

And I know they’ve stricken me. Two days this week I decided to lie on the floor and do crunchs. “Yes, sure a few abdominals would feel good this morning,” I thought. But wait, I must have had a mind warp because I don’t like ab crunches. I hate ab crunches.

And I’ve wanted to do battle with the invaders who for the last six years have made Merritt shake and shudder with daily seizures. Those are the evil aliens in the house. I’d really like to find how they sneak in. Graham is the only one acting normal. Maybe his blond hair and blue eyes wards these aliens off. But if his handwriting suddenly turns legible next week, I’ll know they’ve infiltrated him too.

Obviously the only way to explain the unusual behaviors in the house is the alien in my washer. This blue guy is wreaking havoc on normalcy. But if I rid my family of the invaders, round them up and throw them all in the wash, life would be pretty boring. I guess our moods swings, crisis, improvements and stresses keep us from becoming complacent or spoiled. Our days are full of tiny invasions, some are blessings and surprises and some are cranky little extraterrestrials that throw our days for a loop. I hope you entertain a few of the friendly invaders today and if things in your house seem odd, maybe a stranger will turn up in your wash.