15. Dirty Laundry

One of my high school buddies commented about how it was hard to keep up with everything I'm doing because I always have so many irons on the fire. I cracked up and said "you'd think by now I would have hired a laundry person" only to make the connection that my laundry is mine to do. When I'm in a laundry quandry, who can go through the closet and tell me what to get rid of? Me. (unless of course someone gets me on the show "What Not To Wear") If I spill on my nice clean shirt, who cleans up the mess? Me. If I have secrets in my closet that need to be aired, cleaned up, or cleaned out, can anyone else really get the job done? Me thinks no. It's up to me to make my bed with clean sheets, or to lay in my bed with dirty ones. It's up to me to admit that I've outgrown some clothes, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and to have the courage to get rid of them. It's up to me to manage the irons on the fire, and iron away with or without scorching something.

The thing about laundry, is that if worn, it gets dirty. The thing about life, if we wear it, it gets dirty. We wear out our current set of clothes, aka - ideas, streams of thought, creations, stories, and either clean them up or trade them for new, or we become one of those people who continue to wear the same hairstyle as their high school graduation picture, even though it is 20 years later. This is not to insult anyone, even though it might. Only you know whether the look still works for you. Who am I to say? I don't even know you! Or do I? hmmmmm...

and is my dirty laundry anyone else's business? No, unless I want it to be and even then, I still don't think so.

 I love that Don Henley song:
"I make my living off the evening news. Just give me something, something I can use. People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry."

And is my dirty, gossip-worthy, self-judgmental laundry worth the time and effort for someone else to go digging around in it? I can't answer that, but all I know is, I don't like smelling your dirty laundry, and I can't imagine you wanting to smell mine, unless it's to see whose stinks more, and if it makes someone else feel better to have mine stink more, well, all I can say is, mine would smell even worse if yours was clean. Here's some quarters. have at it.

So yes, I'm doing laundry right now. Less than half of it is mine. What does that say about me? Am I a nice person, or am simply selfish and controlling? Take a sniff and decide for yourself. I think God has a sense of smell and doesn't really care whether I do laundry at all.

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