Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Laundromat Observation


She came in lugging 4 big green garbage bags of what must have been all of her family's dirty laundry for the week.

Her eyes never met mine, and she never once smiled. She filled four of the big heavy duty machines with the clothes, she added the detergent and dragged a chair right in front of the machines and stared into the sudsy swirl of clothes as the machines did their jobs.

I couldn't help but wonder if she was dreaming of what her life could have been. She was in her thirties, looked tired, looked miserable. I imagined she hated having to be there and hated doing this.

But then I thought maybe it was a relief to be out of the house and away from what must be a house full of kids. I tried to read her thoughts as she sat, staring at the washing machine but I got no clue. Maybe she had no thoughts at all. Or maybe she was just at peace doing her family's laundry.

What do I know?

My JOY today? That I didn't have half as many clothes to wash as she did and now I have all clean clothes!

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