Satisfaction
Generally laundry leaves me Mic Jagger-ish, “I don’t get no satisfaction.” The process, as any of you who have read here awhile know, is my least favorite housekeeping chore. It is never done. There is no completion. I like lists and check marks. My kids’ teachers would say I have a “high need for achievement”. A little reward would be nice. Couldn’t the dryer dispense chocolate with each clean load?
But today I got me a little satisfaction, Mic. I did the sheets. Something about stripping a bed, laundering the bedding and then returning it to each child’s bed is so, umm, complete. Whole. Victorious. A freshly made bed is a simple pleasure. And I don’t have to wade through darks, and colors, and whites. I don’t have to fold or match or iron to sink into its easy crispness. Ahh.
I also love that my kids appreciate a fresh bed. Each one seems to notice that their odor and bed bugs have been replaced with soft, clean linens. They inhale their pillows, and grin just before I kiss them. Ahh. They get it.
Now that my kids are older, they get more than fresh sheets. They understand that mom actually works, toils to make their life more comfortable. Randomly they’ve started thanking me. “This was a good dinner, thanks mom,” I hear occasionally. After picking up school supplies or ordering school spirit t-shirts they also show appreciation. Hopping out of the car, they thank me for the ride. Ahh, I’m getting even more satisfaction.
11 Responses to “Satisfaction”
November 11th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Clean sheets…one of my very favorite things. There is nothing more relaxing to me than seeing a freshly made bed. Life can be falling down around you, but if you have clean sheets, well, it can’t be all that bad.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:28 am
What a wonderful post! I’ve really learned about the laundry from you
No more complaining about allowed!
November 12th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Wow, if your kids thank you for those things you are definately doing something right. When I was in high school I made my mom a card to thank her for always driving me to school, and I know it is still one of her prized possessions. We all need to feel valued.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
That’s right…we all need a few thank you’s from time to time. That’s awesome you’re kids get it. My oldest has his moments…my youngest, well…we’re still working on him!
November 12th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I like the chocolate-dispensing idea, myself.
November 12th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
I remember reading about Jackie Kennedy and how, when she was living in The White House, she wanted fresh sheets on the bed every day. And I remember thinking . . . I want that, too! I love freshly laundered sheets. (Of course, Jackie also wanted fresh bath towels TWICE a day . . . but if I had to choose, I’d choose the sheets!) God bless.
November 13th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Wow, great post. My mind flew back about 30 years when as a teenager I began to really appreciate that once-a-week clean smell of the sheets when mom did the bedding.
So I guess when the kids aren’t so appreciative it’s “you can’t always get what you want?”
November 13th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
If only the dryer dispensed chocolate! I’d soon learn to love laundry, the never-ending-chore.
My pet peeve is that the kids are too lazy to actually put away what I’ve sorted, washed, dried, folded, and sorted again. So they simply recycle STILL-FOLDED clothes into the hamper rather than putting them in drawers. They instantly become dirty by association and I’m forced to wash them again. The ultimate was when my son threw in a pair of shorts with the store tags still on them. UGH
November 13th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
If the dryer dispensed chocolate, I might find it in my heart to do a load of laundry every now and then. Not to brag or anything, but my husband does all the laundry and changes the bedding once a week. I might be willing to help out if chocolate were involved.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Karen, we are living the same life.
I don’t mind washing it, drying it, folding it and neatly stacking it in piles which are obsessive-compulsively organized: Jeans, sweatshirts on bottom, shirts, t-shirts, shorts, then pjs then unders on top.
That way, all they have to do is open a drawer and place each section of their stack in there.
yeah. right.
November 14th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I do get it. I love slipping into a fresly sheeted bed. I just hope my kids appreciate what I did to eliminate the sand, etc from their bedding.