An Open Letter to My Laundry

I want to open this open letter with a sincere word of gratitude. You see, laundry, I do understand that it is a great privilege to have you around at all. I know there are many who do not have the luxury of a lot of clothing. And on top of that, the fact that I have a washing machine and a dryer is a blessing. 

I was hoping, though, that we could come up with a better arrangement between the two of us. There is so much of you, and there is only one of me, and this just seems like a relationship that is destined for disaster. Namely, in my laundry room. As well as a couple of other rooms which house the clean laundry that seems never to get put away.

(Yes, I know that that is not entirely your fault. But please hear me out.)

What is the answer for this predicament? Is there anything you can do? Is there any way to make yourself smaller? Or is there a way for you to help make me faster and more efficient at conquering the great mountains that you manage to manufacture? I know we go through a lot of clothes in a week, but sometimes it really seems like...well, like the pile is greater than it should be. I don't like to think you are working against me. Against us! We should be a team! 

Sometimes I fear that this mountain of a problem is insurmountable. However, I wanted you to know that I am willing to work on it, and I really hope that you are too. I could use your cooperation. 

In closing, I want you to know that I want you around, so please don't get me wrong! Our family would be a lot worse off if you just left altogether. I love the way you smell when you're clean! So, let's be friends, and work toward a common goal: out of baskets and into drawers! Or closets! What a lovely dream to have! Shall we dream this dream together?! I am looking forward to a new Era, and I am ready to Wisk this problem away. We are on the verge of a rising Tide of clean clothes, a time when All laundry gets done and put away in a timely manner! It is exciting because we have nothing to lose and everything to Gain! 

Sincerely,
Christina 

Hope

Hope -
That light that lingers
Sometimes fleeting, 
Yet how is it so steady?
Enduring
As it does,
Hope
Rises again

Act III, Scene i, Take Two of These and Call Me in the Morning

There is this period of time toward the end of the day, and if it were written out as part of a script it would look like this:

[ENTER MOM, CRAZY EYES, FISTS CLENCHED, TEETH GRITTED, POSSIBLY PULLING AT ONE SIDE OF HER HAIR].

Do you know of this time period? Right around dinnertime? Say, just before dinner and lasting for around two hours? (Sometimes longer.)

I fall into the category of I-want-to-get-the-heck-out-of-here-for-one-hour-and-go-get-a-milkshake-ALLBYMYSELF! at this time. But on a night like tonight, when Mike has a meeting at the church, I can't just exit stage right and take off for Sonic. Or Krispy Kreme. That is also an option. (But not actually an option, since I CAN'T GO ANYWHERE.) Instead, ibuprofen takes the place of ice cream or donuts (until later). 

And then, everyone gets a shower, and all the children have clean teeth, and they are close to being tucked in, and I feel a little more like a normal person again. 

A little. 

I suppose to feel like a normal person again, I would have had to feel like one in the first place. 

Debatable. 

On (NOT) Getting It Right...Again (Sigh)

Sometimes I just wish there was a magic wand that I could wave over the house and it would be set in order. 

I'm afraid it's going to take a great deal more work than that. There is no easy, cross-my-arms-and-blink-my-eyes fix for this mess. It makes me tired just looking around. 

Plus, it's cold. When it's cold, I want to curl up under a blanket and read. Oh! Some very good hot chocolate would be nice! 

Do you know what I think? I think that if one were to start off his day with a good choice, that it would naturally lead to more good choices as the day went on. Does it take a genius to realize that? (Clearly not...I just had the revelation, and I had to look up how to spell the word genius because it looked funny.) The obvious counterpoint is that if one were to start off his day with a bad choice, then bad choices follow easily throughout the rest of the day. (Please know that I'm being lazy and not adding  /her to my sentences. But I'm not so lazy that I don't address my non-political correctness in a parenthetical.) 

I found myself very angry today on several occasions when I couldn't avoid or deny that the present predicament (whatever it was) that I was in at that moment was my own fault. Which made me madder. And a little obstinate. 

No one was around to be obstinate to...just my own self. I was telling myself that if I had done things differently earlier in the day, then I wouldn't be in the situation as it ended up. I spouted off (in my head) a pretty sassy rebuttal, smothered in some extra sassy sauce. But in the end, Ms. Sassypants had to sit down and hush it, because she knew that she was not only in the wrong, but actually foolish too. 

And so, as usual, I sigh at the end of a day when I had the chance to do things the right way, but didn't. And I hope (and wonder if it's possible) to get it right (a little more right?) tomorrow. 

Hence, the early(ish) blog post. I really (reeeeaaaaaallllllyyyyy) need to get some laundry done, make sure the kitchen is cleaned up tonight, and maybe clear off the coffee table.

Whoa, sister...don't get ahead of yourself there! Throwing the coffee table in the mix is awfully ambitious. But it sure would be a good thing to get done, so I'm not terrified of someone (anyone!) coming to the front door. 

Or I might just crawl into bed and read Reordered Love, Reordered Lives. I haven't decided, and after all, as Miss O'Hara said,"tomorrow is another day..."

The Dead Sea Scrolls

After church, Mike and I took the kids to Fort Worth in order to get a glimpse of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments exhibit that has been at the seminary there for several months. 

We were all very excited, and since it was the final day of the exhibit, we knew that it was exceedingly likely that the crowd would be great. 

We were not wrong. 

The line just to get into the first part of the exhibit (ancient artifacts and pictures of the Dead Sea area and the Qumran community) was huge. There were a few things that stood outside of the official entryway of the exhibit, like this pottery that had been pieced back together, an example of what archaeologists do. 

Looking at this pottery makes me think of how God takes our broken pieces and lovingly and painstakingly puts them back together. Once it's done, the cracks are still visible, but it's okay. The pottery has been restored, and is beautiful even though no longer perfect. 

We stood in the first line for about an hour in order to see the artifacts and the replicas of some of the longer scrolls (Isaiah...so amazing), and then after a short video we stood in another line for about two hours before seeing the actual fragments that they had on display. At some point in all the standing, Eliana looked at me and tried to communicate that she was hungry and thirsty. 

Poor girl. She was such a trooper, as were the other two kids. A woman in front of us, who had been in front of us for the final two hours of line-standing/walking, turned just before we entered the fragment hall and told us how very good the kids had been and how wonderful that was. That was quite a compliment.

No photographs were allowed once inside the exhibit, so we just walked through and took it all in. It's an amazing experience to walk through a place that is housing such old, ancient even, items that are in excellent condition. What care the archaeologists must take! The kids were surprisingly interested in a lot of what was written, and they were exceptionally patient! 

During the video that we saw (over and over and over and over again, since our two-hour line was in the same room that the video was playing), what stood out to me was how, in such a barren and seemingly desolate place, these scrolls were kept from completely decaying for thousands of years. In God's wisdom and timing, they were discovered at just the right time in history...for purposes that he alone knows fully. Isaiah 40:8 reads

"The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God endures forever.”

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a tangible representation of how this has been true. There are other things mulling around in my head, but it's late and I have stuff to prepare for tomorrow. I'll have to revisit these ideas another time...