10 life lessons from doing the laundry

When I was on vacation in Bosnia last month and saw all of the laundry hanging on balconies, the germ of an idea took root and I started jotting down thoughts. I remembered watching my mother use an old wringer washer and recalled learning how to overlap items on the clothesline using one clothespin, which led to how great sheets smell when allowed to dry on the line outdoors. I smiled at the memory of the young people who received a scholarship from a program I managed, and how surprised they were to receive a laundry bag along with their check. For many of them it would be their first time on their own and responsible for everything in their day to day lives. I researched, and suggest that you Google “history of laundry.” You’ll learn a lot and have much more respect for our foremothers.

Then, when I got down to the lessons themselves, I started explaining each one until I had a couple of pages of material. It was when I got more serious about getting this blog ready to post that I realized the explanations were not necessary. Each lesson can have its own meaning for each reader. I hope you’ll have more to add to the list below of life lessons from doing the laundry:

1. Things we thought needed to be separated don't.
2. Reading the instructions helps.
3. Once you've mastered the basics, you may not be great at it, but no one fails.
4. It is a short term chore with an immediate sense of accomplishment.
5. Multitasking is easy.
6. Everyone has quirks about the right way for each step along the way, from sorting to folding.
7. Not everyone has to think about it, but everyone benefits from it being done.
8. While manufacturers offer many choices to cater to what they think are growing needs, we really need only a couple of options.
9. Colors do fade but are sometimes better than the original. 
10. Despite all the products on the market, sometimes the old fashioned remedies are the best.

Marilyn