Laundry in the Key of B

May 1, 2008

Today I went to wash a load of towels. I loaded them all up in the washer, put my earth friendly detergent in and set the power button to the, “My towels have been sitting in a wet pile on the floor for way too many days in a row, have started to mildew and produce a funky smell around the house that you just can’t quite locate” Cycle. In other words, the very HOT and long cycle with an extra rinse. My finger was poised on the start button and then something my friend said on her blog the other day, about washing your laundry in cold water and using less energy, flashed across my brain waves. Arrrrgh! I wrestled with the thought for a moment, really needing to wash those towels in hot water, and walked out of the laundry room with out starting the load at all.

I realized in that moment how guilty of this ridiculous behavior I have become. I start something, usually a good something, and then somewhere within the process of completion, I become overwhelmed by all of the possibilities that might make it NOT worthwhile…and I QUIT! With information comes responsibility, yes. But also, with information comes overwhelm and shut down mode for me.

Even after I realized this about myself this morning, I sat down to practice playing my guitar and it happened again, but for different reasons. As it stands, I have some pretty mean C, G, A and D chords going on. I can even hammer out a few minor and suspended chords now and then when I have to. But today, I was working on a song and the dreaded B chord came upon me. I HATE that chord. I cannot do the required finger gymnastics it takes to accomplish that chord or almost any of the other chords in that key. I tried it a few times, decided I would never master it, thought about how I am really a sucky guitar player anyway, and that I should not be wasting time on getting better when I could be folding my laundry or preparing a delicious and healthful meal for my family. (insert heavy sarcasm)

I put my guitar down…and I QUIT.

I was sitting there on my couch feeling all the insecure feelings that come with the act of quitting. And then a tiny question popped into my mind that I always try to hammer into my kids, my husband and myself. Does the good outweigh the bad? (Which is what I think my friend was asking in her blog, anyway) I usually relate this to the food we eat, or the amount of TV my kids are watching, or the activities we are participating in as a family. When we have a “too much TV week”, I remind myself that my children are imaginative, active and intelligent little whipper snappers, who love to paint and read, climb trees and ride bikes and build forts. And that the dress up box never gets dusty for lack of use at our house. So if they bruise up a few brain cells watching some TV, I have to try and balance that somewhere in my mind with all the good things I “put into them”.

So after thinking that thought all the way through to the end of it’s tunnel, I came the the ever-glowing light. I realize that this question cannot pertain to every little area of life, but I do think that it is a good “tool” to stash in your belt on those days when you feel like a worthless P.O.S. mother, wife, house keeper, friend, daughter, or just plain human. If you can realize and appreciate more of the good “stuff” that you are putting in, then maybe…just maybe, the tater tots and slushies might not seem so bad. All I know is that today, that question was enough to get my sorry ass up off the couch and back into the laundry room. I now have a beautiful pile of folded towels that got washed in hot water to protect my family from mildew exposure, which were washed in earth friendly detergent, not covered in petroleum based fabric softener and will be used more than once to cut down on water consumption. Also, I finished writing my song…It’s in the key of G…like every other song I have ever written on the guitar! Praise the Lord and pass the Capo!

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Tags: earth friendly, guitar, laundry

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