Shine Bright

Monday is my laundry day. Just putting that down on paper sounds depressing. Who has a laundry day? Most people have a laundry week. For most normal people, laundry is a nightmare that continues throughout the whole week. It is the one household task that you never seem to catch up on. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was one of those people. How many times have I put a load of laundry in the washing machine and then forgotten about it until a few days later when I realize that Megan is out of clean jeans so I open up the washing machine only to discover a foul odor coming from the laundry that has remained in there for far too long? I know I am not alone in this. I re-wash the forgotten load, but I had a friend who said she would just put the forgotten load in the dryer with extra dryer sheets. She said the dryer sheets were able to mask the musky smell. Seriously. No judgment here but I just never felt right doing that.

I actually like to do laundry. It is the only household task that I really truly do enjoy. I find it very satisfying to wash 8+ loads of laundry, dry them all, and fold them very neatly. I worked in a clothing store when I was in college. The store had very specific rules about how each clothing item was to be folded. I have not managed to break the habit. I am very anal retentive about how my laundry is folded. I cannot help it. For this reason, it is the one task that I have great difficulty handing the responsibility of over to other family members. Perhaps this is why I make sure to find time to get the laundry done regularly. Fear that someone else in the family might actually decide to do it.

There is one task within the laundry responsibilities that I am not so good at. I hate to change the sheets on my children’s beds. I am not even going to admit how long it might be in between sheet changing’s. The problem is that when our family made our first relocation, Tom and I bought the daughters new beds. They both had hand me downs and we were basically trying to soften the blow of moving to another state. Both girls wanted loft beds. At the time, Tom and I thought it was a great idea to purchase the loft beds for the girls. With the bed up off the floor, they would have more space in their bedrooms. We purchased the desk attachment to go under the bed so they would have a desk to sit at and do homework. Please note that they have never done their homework in their bedroom since we made this purchase. I guess that was a waste. However, the desk is a nice place for them to collect all kind of needless junk. For those of you who had a loft bed in college, you already know why I detest changing the sheets in my daughter’s loft beds. Simply put it is a task that is death defying. Teetering six feet off the ground, wrestling with sheet and mattress, it is terrifying.

I know it is not healthy to leave the sheets on my daughter’s beds for too long so every now and then I have to break down and muster up the courage to tackle the beast. The first step in changing the sheets is easy but lengthy. I have to unload the beds. No, not simply remove the dirty sheets. I have to remove a multitude of items that my daughters have been storing up in their beds completely out of my sight. One time I climbed up into Megan’s bed and gasped. It appeared that her Webkinz had multiplied up in her bed. Not kidding. I am certain that she did not have that many Webkinz. I think something funny was going on up there when no one else was around. It can be very scary up in the lofts so I down rubber gloves (you just never know what you will find) and set to work removing books, stuffed animals, cups, lots and lots of Kleenex (used and unused), Nintendo DS, DS games, music, papers, pens, pencils, crayons, markers, white boards, dry erase markers, erasers, shirts, pajama pants, lots and lots of socks, head bands, ponytail holders, lip gloss, pencil shavings, a half empty bag of animal crackers, baskets, and finally we are at the bedding. Honestly, do they even sleep in the beds? If so, how? Where? Is there even any room?

With the bed a clean slate so to speak, I take a deep breath, dig out my Will and insurance papers for Tom just in case and make the climb to put clean sheets on the bed. The fitted sheet in hand I delicately unfold the sheet out over the bed while I am solidly planted in the middle of the bed. While on the bed I attempt to lift the corners of the mattress so as to wrap the elastic under the corner. This is where my newly developed muscles from the floor cleaning become handy. Once the fitted sheet is secured under one end of the mattress, the mattress explodes from my grasp and thunders down on the bed frame. One down, three more to go. As I make my way to the final corner, I am attempting to pull the excess sheet out from under my weight which is currently on top of the sheet while at the same time pull up the final mattress corner. This is the most intense part of the whole task. I have on many occasions nearly flung myself right over the guard rail of the loft while attempting to pull the excess sheet tight. I lack all coordination. This time I manage to get the sheet completely secured on the mattress. It is now time for the top sheet. There are no military corners with a loft bed. I’m just happy if I manage to get the sheet on the bed and secured. More often then not I end up with barely any sheet on one side to tuck in and an excess amount on the other side. I do not fix it. They are children and don’t care what their bed looks like. Clearly, please refer back to the list of items I had to remove from the bed just to change the sheets. With the top sheet on, all that is left is the comforter. Now here is a sore spot. I spent good money on pretty comforters that no one can see because they are 6 feet in the air surrounded by a guard rail. What a waste. With task completed, sweat dripping from my forehead, lungs on fire and gasping for breath, I lean back on Hailey’s bed to catch my breath before descending the bed. I happen to glance across from the bed to a hand written sign she has hung high on her wall. The sign says, “Always remember to shine bright and to be who you want to be.” I wipe the sweat from my forehead with the back of my sleeve and realize that I have the “shine bright” part down with no problem. The, “be who you want to be” part, yah, I need to hit those job classifieds again cause I don’t think I’m exactly there yet.