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Michiana Chronicles writers bring portraits of our life and times to the 88.1 WVPE airwaves every Friday at 7:45 am during Morning Edition and over the noon hour at 12:30 pm during Here and Now. Michiana Chronicles was first broadcast in October 2001. Contact the writers through their individual e-mails and thanks for listening!

Michiana Chronicles: Almost happiness

Heather Curlee Novak

You have heard me complain before about laundry. I mean, everyone has heard almost everyone complain about some aspect of laundry. If you are in the family way, even if your offspring does their own laundry…they never really do their own laundry. Someone left socks on the floor of the garage and another pair in the hall. Someone else won’t fold without a fight…especially if it is not their item. Even as the Mama I struggle to hold authority in the putting away of the washed, dried, folded clothes. It is true that a basket of perfectly completed laundry has sat at the foot of my bed long enough to get covered completely with far flung lightly used I’ll hang it back up tomorrow is this smelly I guess I’ll wash it all laundry.

Some of you sainted folk really enjoy laundry. Perhaps you have a pretty, Pinterest worthy laundry room. You may use all that delicious, scented laundry soap and you probably hum as you fold it all Marie Kondo style. My laundry resides in a serial killer influenced basement. I tried putting up cute sayings and pictures and still…. nah. The only thing that gets laundry done in my home is literal desperation and a gripping audio book. Or having someone else do it instead of me.

I know I should be grateful. I know the laboriousness of lugging laundry to a laundromat. To sit amongst stranger’s unmentionables and hope no prior customer dried crayons or lipsticks along with their toddler sized jammies. I’ve been to another country where the locals washed their clothing in mostly clean water and laid the pieces out to dry on dirt and grass. I know I should be grateful. I am mostly grateful to have too many clothes and enough physical health to do the dumb laundry. I know not everyone does. I’m grateful my life is so uneventful that I have little else to complain about. I do take some pleasure from prettily folded items filling up laundry baskets. Folded fabric that dreams to one day be carried upstairs to be put away at long last. I also recently found a new pleasure in making laundry even more difficult to complete!

My husband and I were in Nappanee to drop our kids at Lutherwald summer camp in Howe, Indiana. As we wandered from breakfast to woodshop to yard sale, I admired the Amish homes with laundry hanging outdoors on the line. Living in the area, I’ve dined at Amish homes, gone to Beekeeper Auctions with my Dad and ridden in horse drawn buggies. I never admired the laundry on the line. At my house we do have drying racks in the basement for laundry that needs extra care, but not a laundry line outdoors. For heavens sake! How much harder could I make doing this despised chore?!? Lug a basket of wet laundry up a flight of stairs on top of the other steps? No way.

I kept thinking about the laundry outdoors on the line. We’d begun air drying more often to help the environment and try to save on our gas bill. I wondered if by making the laundry more difficult, I could take it more seriously. Could I enjoy some Laura Ingalls style living? I talked to my husband, John, and we agreed to try line drying outdoors for as long as our fickle Midwestern weather would allow. I bought a zippy retractable jobber and John installed it. I will say the first time was the best time. Handling each towel, each clothespin…was meditative. Being outside I felt smug and environmental and cool but also refreshed. Standing in the sunshine, hearing the sounds of my neighborhood and hanging damp clothes up was…pleasant.

The kids also enjoyed hanging their clothes outside…after grumbling about the cruelty and unfairness of it all first. I have forgotten laundry overnight…which then covered with dew needed to dry all over again. My husband didn’t love the crunchy nature of his jeans, our towels…. but they settle down after a bit. Sometimes I run them through the dryer instead. I have started noticing others hanging laundry outside and I smile. I am in a club of sorts now. I still haven’t discovered the sweet spot of a ‘cycle’ time; how long everything needs to dry out. Laundry that is folded still languishes in the baskets…but it smells fresh, like sunshine…almost like happiness.

Music: "Knocking On Your Screen Door" by John Prine

Heather Novak's professional history includes sales and customer service training and troubleshooting for businesses, but she loves motivational speaking best. Heather leads church events for youth, singles and women, has spoken for Chicago Apartment Association and many organizations throughout Indiana. Nowadays Heather is just another stay at home wild mama trying to loose some weight, keep some sanity and enjoy her life. She is being raised by two little girls named Portia and Libby and is indulged by a guy named John who was gracious enough to marry her. Heather blogs about F Words: Feisty Faith, Fumbling Family, Fairly Healthy Food, Failed Fashion and Fabulous Friendships. You can find her at www.liveyourloveoutloud.com.