Our dryer broke on Friday or maybe Thursday, it’s all a blur of laundry at this point. The neighbor let me drag my loads of wet clothes to her house to dry and I’m sure she’s trying to figure my portion of her utility bills right about now after underestimating the volume of laundry I trekked to her home.
We walked back and forth, all long weekend long. Me with one kid or the other, pulling a wagon full of wet laundry and carrying another home dry. Sometimes we stayed to talk for a bit and sometimes an extra kid stowed away in the piles and the boys surprised us at just how long they could laugh at things that aren’t funny.
I strung a line between our house and garage to hang sheets and towels but dropped pretty much everything on the ground at least once while trying to master the art of the clothespin. I also thought about calling my grandma to find out the secret to soft line-dried linens as I wrapped clean kids in crunchy towels.
The weight of wet laundry slowed all of our walks and Parker and I picked up old sticks left from the longest winter in history. He giggled when I yelled “timberrrr” when one branch fell and I searched my brain for the reason people say timber when trees fall because he wanted to know right that second.
When we moved here I soaked in the sounds and the peace and couldn’t wait to slow life down. But just as coveted toys end up on the garage sale table, the pace of our days dulled our surroundings. The drop offs and the pick ups and the practices sent me back to the email and the phone and the checking of Facebook every other minute.
Thanks to a fantastic Memorial Day sale my husband is installing our new dryer as I type and I might hug it or him or both. I’m cutting down my drying line and not just because the weight of it tipped our garage light. I have no desire for air-drying and laundry that takes a five acre walk to finish but I do want to slow down.
I’ve had my eyes on the clock and my phone and everywhere but right here and my listening hasn’t really been full of hearing much. We’re counting down to summer and Sawyer’s birthday and a huge increase in the amount of time people can fight over the color of drink straws. I don’t want to nod my head while looking at my phone or yell “mmm-hmm” when I have no idea what anyone asked for. I want to remember why we loved our house when it seemed shiny new and look at my kids like they didn’t just wipe their faces on my white clothes.
I’m going to start off summer with my eyes open and maybe set the timer on my new dryer to remind me to log off Facebook, as soon as I figure out what button turns it on.
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Crunchy towels. Yes.
Why do I remember ours being fluffy after drying on the line when I was a kid?
Maybe my skin didn’t care as much back then.
When we moved back home last year after being in the rental house, we didn’t have a working dryer for two months and my skin cared. A lot.
Everything crunched. I learned that I would NOT have made a good prairie wife.
But I am good at slowing down.
So here’s to a summer of soft linens and a lazy pace.
Soak it up.
We had a washer overflow which resulted in a food last week. Wonderful reminder to see what is right in front of you.
Laundry progress has stalled at my house too. Our washer broke yesterday and flooded the laundry room. (It was as pleasant as it sounds.) We got the part we needed, so – fingers crossed – it will be working later tonight.
Slowing down sounds really great. I am thinking about doing that more this summer too.
Ugh, our washer has flooded our laundry room several times. It’s awful. Glad you were able to get it fixed and hope you find your way out from under the laundry piles soon.
So glad that you got the new dryer! Thank you for the reminder to be present. Oddly, our dryer broke when Jake died and then again when Sawyer died. Not sure what the universe was trying to tell me.
Sending hope and hugs.
Oh that is so strange. Maybe it was your boys being boys and sending you a little hello.
Hope you are well.
As much as people say they love the smell of their laundry drying on the line… I can’t stand it. Give me a dryer anyday.
Me too, I’m not going dryer-less again any time soon.
I have been here and I will be here again. ..probably as early as tomorrow when (maybe) the sun comes out and a part of me will miss the coolness of the winter I desperately wanted to end. Beautiful, as always.
Okay I’m glad you said it first. Why do I miss some things about winter even though I hated it so much?