With Love.....

I'm so grateful for the response I have had to guest bloggers! I love reading what other people have to say about happiness, and learning from their wonderful words. Here is another amazing guest post from Jen

Love is what happiness is all about. Loving yourself, your family, your friends and doing things for them. Jen has brought housework back to a loving perspective that I fear I had forgotten. Thanks Jen!

It was a Wednesday several months ago when I first changed the way I deal with laundry. By about the hundredth (I may be exaggerating a little bit here) inside-out item I lost it completely. No longer would I turn things right side out while folding! I was done! The rest of the load got folded much faster. I put the baskets of nicely folded stacks in the hall for pick-up and went about the rest of my day. Several weeks passed. No one mentioned having an abundance of inside-out clothes in their clean piles. Nice. I cut my folding time by several minutes, allowing me to read an extra chapter of my current book, wipe down the kitchen countertops, take the dog out, reapply my lip gloss, call a tenant to ask where's the rent, and read blog posts by cjane.

My happy balloon was about to burst. Mar mentioned one day how his workout shirt was inside out and he wore it during his entire workout before he noticed. Dillon came home from school one day and I noticed his shirt was inside out. Had been all day I guess. Mar said to me, "My clothes are inside out quite a bit lately." To which I replied, "Really?" Then I brought up how much time I was saving with my new laundry method and how I would really appreciate it if certain people would make sure their clothes were right side out before they were put into the laundry for cleaning. Mar replied with a sad face, "I guess the laundry isn't done with love anymore." :-(

Well.

I guess not.

Maybe I needed to rethink my motives here. Do I enjoy doing laundry? Well, parts of it. I like separating things into color categories. I like adding all the soaps into their little drawers. I like choosing the cycle I need. I don't even mind cleaning out lint screens. I don't care so much for remembering to move loads around and where the enjoyment process breaks down completely is the folding part. Not a big fan. Don't even get me started on the socks! But, my job as mom comes with laundry responsibility. Responsibilities like these are sure easier to handle when you have the right attitude. I can see the possibilities here.

During the 2 minute yoga part of my Turbo Jam video the next morning I repeat my new mantra: I will fold the laundry with love.

Next laundry day, I encounter 6 items of inside out clothing, all of which I turn right side out and fold into nice piles. Into one of Mar's workout shirts I slip a note. "Folded with love on 3/5/08 heart Fif " (Fif is me)

The note starts a chain reaction I did not intend but which Mar and I now enjoy immensely. He found the note, wrote a note back on the other side, and hid it in with the bill drawer so next time I sat down to pay bills I found it. I wrote another note and re-hid it taped to the steering wheel of his truck. The note is still circulating; the other day I found it my vitamin cabinet (it's hidden right now tucked inside the bike shoes he uses when he spins at the gym). Folding laundry with love led to learning more about how we love each other. And also a fun game of hide and seek.

Here's to learning that housework is all about love. I hope my family knows this. I'm glad I do, too.