A friend said a flavorful swear word in front of me the other day, then quickly added, "Oh, I'm going to have to stop saying that around you, aren't I?" and glanced at my belly.
It was funny until it occurred to me that I was going to have to start watching what I said around me. Which in turn led me to think of things my husband commonly says, the phrases that simultaneously cause eye rolls and giggle fits, like "we'll play it by ear" and "if push comes to shove"...things I don't necessarily want to hear my child say. Things I thought only parents said.
Whoa.
We're going to be parents. Soon.
The unfinished to-do list of what I was going to do/be before I had a child rattled off in my head. I was supposed to already:
1. be bilingual
2. have traveled to at least 5 of 7 continents
3. completed a triathalon
4. have conquered laundry.
The list is much, much longer, but out of these, I'm most unnerved about #4. It's tied up with a whole batch of bad habits that I don't wish to pass along, habits my mother tried to re-wire in me since the beginning of time. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind washing my clothes, or drying them. It's the next steps I've battled my whole life: fold and put them up. My husband (bless his patient and neat soul) has often said that the floor and furniture wear my clothes more than I do. And sadly, he's right -- Quick honey, look! I put it in writing on the world wide web!
If I get something out to wear and change my mind...does it go back on the hanger? Oh nooooo. I put it in a pile. A pile! I'm a master stacker (that's a whole different post). Ironing? No thanks. I have never reached the Zen state of mind my mother claims to have when she irons. My husband and I still do our laundry separate. He knew all too well it could end our marriage. I have a mental block on laundry fulfillment. Always have.
Mom used to have a sweet little cross-stitched sign hanging in the kitchen that said, "DO IT NOW." I try to abide by that when I lose steam on completing day-to-day chores...except laundry. Starting today I'm going to focus on improving this bane of my homemaker existence. Okay, maybe tomorrow, but still, it's moving to the top of the list. I can order a meal in Spanglish; I've been to 3 continents; I can run, bike and swim even if I haven't put the three together in one day.
So laundry, here I come. I will conquer you, if push comes to shove.
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yeah. I hate to say it, but the laundry situation becomes DAUNTING once a child arrives. it is ceaseless. sisyphean. but you can do it. you have to do it.
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