LifeCentering

 

Doing Laundry and Folding Clothes — Part Nine

The Things We Keep, The Things We Release

There’s a moment in every load of laundry when I pause over something I haven’t thought about in a while. A shirt tucked in the back of the drawer. A towel that’s frayed at the edges. A sock whose partner has long since disappeared into whatever dimension single socks escape to.

As I fold these pieces, I’m reminded that life has a way of handing us things we carry far longer than we realize. Some are useful. Some are comforting. Some are simply familiar. And some — if we’re honest — have outlived their purpose.

Laundry has a gentle way of asking a quiet question:
“Do you still need this?”

While folding my laundry this week I couldn’t help but think about there being a right or wrong way to do just about anything! That would include, of course, folding laundry. It was easy to remember some silly and simple things as to how to fold clothes. I thought about folding clothes according to where they will be placed when put away. Makes sense. If a drawer is a certain size and shape and a T-shirt can be folded in different ways, the best way to fold them is determined by how they will fit into the drawer. Same for towels. Do you fold a bath towel into two folds or three? Clearly, it depends on the size of the shelf!

Now don’t get your undies all in a knot! I make no apologies for the fact that I am obsessive-compulsive and structured in everything I do. Order comes first, my order. Getting that thought out of the way you can decide whether there is apt to be anything important to come from the rest of this conversation.

If you have decided to read a bit further, you may want to know how OCD affected my relationships. My thoughts went back to when I was married, not to my first wife. Not even my third wife. It was my second wife who came to mind. She was the best, probably the only person who knew exactly how to handle me! To be honest I don’t remember our ever discussing how to fold laundry. She folded hers and I folded mine. No problem. Where to put them, also no problem since we had separate drawers for personal items. My memory fades about what to do with towels, sheets and other non-personal items, but I am sure I had a strong opinion!

One discussion we had stands out in my memory. To me it is the best example of how silly such discussions are about right ways and wrong ways to do anything. I’m betting there are folks reading this who will recognize the situation. Have you wondered why some toilet tissue is printed on one side? If you did, you might also know there is a right way to put a roll in the dispenser. You put it so the lead of the roll is on the outside, hanging down and exposing the printed side. If you placed it so the lead was to the back you would still see the print on the top of the roll, but the part hanging down would be the unprinted side. Who cares? Exactly! But, of course, I did care. I always remember how my wife laughed while telling me there is no right way! No hint in her laugh that she cared about making it an issue.

We probably had other things where such conversations occurred, but this is a good example of how to handle an obsessive-compulsive person. Just laugh and do as you darn please!