Laundry Machines

Today I hauled my laundry down two flights of stairs and across the parking garage to the coin-op machines in my apartment building. Usually I try to squeeze in this task while Maggie is napping, but I rarely get it all done before she wakes up wanting to eat. This time, as I was leaving my apartment to manage my laundry, Maggie woke up even earlier than she normally does from her nap. Earlier in the day she had to have a vaccine, making her temperament a little unpredictable, so I also carried her in her HUGE car seat down two flights of stairs and across the parking garage. The whole way I was cursing apartment living and pining over the washer and dryer that we sold when we moved to Santa Monica; I was remembering how laundry didn't used to hardly count as a chore. I could toss in dirty laundry just before going to bed and have clean clothes by morning. I didn't need to babysit my laundry and I definitely didn't need to plan my whole day around it.

As I was cursing and cursing my laundry situation, I remembered an experience that I had when Joe and I were in Ghana a few years ago. We were living in apartments on the temple grounds. Ghanaians would travel from their villages and stay in the apartments when they were able to visit the temple (for many a once in a life time experience). One day when I was putting a load of laundry in the coin-op machines in the building, a young Ghanaian mom stood shyly watching me. As I finished, she asked me if I would show her how to use the machines. I helped her get her wash started, and by the time I finished explaining how to move her clothes to the dryer, start the machine, etc. she was almost jumping up and down with excitement. She had never seen anything so amazingly convenient in her whole life. I remember feeling so humbled by all the things I take for granted in my life--things like washing machines.

So, I am grateful that I had that experience because it helps me keep things in perspective. How lucky am I, that all I have to do is carry my clothes down a two flights of stairs and toss them in a washing machine? How lucky am I, that I have so many clothes that I have to do several loads of laundry each week to keep up?

Instead of cursing, I should be counting my blessings, so today I am trying to be grateful for washing machines, even when they are two stair flights away.