The Most Magical Laundry Day Ever

After being a mom for more than a few years now, I have found it necessary to break up my laundry into several different days.

The boys laundry is done on Monday/Tuesday. The girls laundry is done on Wednesday. The rest of the laundry is (hopefully) done on Friday. I find this schedule keeps me from falling into extreme, fathomless pits of despair.

When I was "preparing" for my last baby, I kept saying Saturday would be the perfect day for her to come as all the laundry would be done. My husband would promptly tease me, saying he's perfectly capable of doing the laundry. In my head I know this is true, since his clothes always appeared crisp, clean and smelled garden fresh even before we were married.

I have three different laundry hampers in the house, one of which allows us to split the clothes into whites, lights, and darks. I have not seen all of those laundry hampers free of dirty socks, wrinkled pants, and sweaty shirts in years. Not that I'm complaining. I love that I have loads of family in this house and plenty for them to wear...and get dirty. This weekly barrage of clothes begging to be cleansed has become an integral part of my life.

This is why one Saturday morning I discovered a most miraculous occurrence. Hubby and I had been painting the kitchen, where our washer is located. Since we knew this marvelous instrument for the cause of cleanliness would be out of commission for a few days, I worked hard to get as much laundry done as was humanly possible the Saturday before. Because of this, all my laundry days were thrown off schedule (Moms around the world, groan with me). We got the kitchen done and my race to keep my children from running around the streets naked began.

At the end of the week I finished folding the last pair of shorts, shoved a final shirt in the cramped closet, and matched my last pair of socks. At one point I stood in my house when a magical moment occurred. The stars might have aligned. Angels should have been singing. It was a day to remember and have etched in the annals of time. For one brief, shining moment every single laundry hamper was empty.

And then the kids woke up.