John asked a simple question over breakfast, “Do you need laundry done?”

 

You have it right – he does the laundry, and I am grateful.  It wasn’t always his job.  When we had three children at home and I was the stay-at-home mom, I did whites six times and colors two times a week.  That is not to say that we were squeaky clean.  Just walking through our undusted house could contaminate you.  He volunteered to do the wash when he had his office next to the laundry room, and I was working outside the home.  That slid into the era of necessity when I was recovering from having total knee replacements.  The “look Ma, no hands!” could not be applied to laundry baskets on stairs.  Well, it could, but there would have been bodily harm to someone.  We moved to a one-floor-fits-all house in the mountains, and he continued his clean act.  In return, I say thank you every time I find clean clothes laid on the bed, always folded or on hangers.  It is truly a blessing.  He’s a keeper.

 

John’s morning query made me wonder what drives other people’s laundry.  There are the questions of who does it? and what is the trigger?  Most people I know, including Facebook and WordPress friends, have some cleaning routine, otherwise I would have smelled you long ago.  Do you wash because the laundromat is empty at a particular time?  Perhaps you know you have to do this chore when you retrieve your socks from the floor and wear them ten days in a row.

 

I answered John’s question by saying I would look in the drawer and see how many pairs of jeans I had left.  I asked, “Why are you asking?  You have been washing exactly when I needed clean clothes.  What has changed?”

 

He replied, “I threw away some underwear and opened a new package.”

 

Ah!  The necessity marker had changed!