I can’t believe it has taken me this long to let it go.
All these years I have allowed it to consume me, anger me, frustrate me and literally brought me to tears. Yes, even tears!
I use to love washing the dark clothes being that it consisted mostly of jeans which are so easy to separate, fold and put away.
That was until I had kids!
I would cringe when that day rolled around twice a week. Before I go on, I want you to keep in mind that we all do laundry differently and I was raised to turn all my laundry right-side-out, Momma knows best right?
Now that we got that out of the way… When it was time to do the dark laundry I would always ask my kids to bring me their dark clothes with their jeans right-side-out. Inevitable they would bring them to me inside out and I would do one of two things:
- I would gripe and complain the entire time I was pulling them right-side out or
- I would throw them back in their room to have them do it. Of course that always slowed the laundry process down because I had to wait on them so let me be honest, majority of the time I just did it while complaining the whole time.
Of course while I was complaining I was also crying, silently or sometimes out loud, of how I don’t feel loved by my kids and why can’t they do this simple little task to make my life so much easier. The crying didn’t happen all the time but the frustration did.
I’m not proud of this but the fact of the matter is, this went on up until just a month ago. Mind you my 21 yr. old son and 19 yr. old daughter are out of the house which leaves me with my youngest who is 15 yrs. old. It just so happens that she doesn’t understand this concept of right-side out either.
So last month I have a few dark clothes that need to be cleaned but in order to have a full load I asked my daughter to bring me some of her dark’s. What do you think she does?
You got it! She brought me her jeans, all 4 pairs INSIDE OUT! My first thought was to give them back to her but I thought twice and asked myself if it really matters that they are inside out. Without griping or complaining I threw them in the washer, then in the dryer then came the folding.
Instead of pulling the legs through and folding it right side out so it looks nice and she knows which jeans are which I decided that after all these years I needed to let it go and just fold the darn jeans and send them off to her room.
You know what the funny part is? I didn’t even think about it until I saw her with one of those pair of jean on that she HAD to put those jeans right-side out in order to put them on and at that moment I knew I had finally WON the war!
I share this story with you for two reasons really.
First, if you are like I am when it comes to laundry and feel like you have to have your clothes right-side out but your children are just not working with you, wash it like that, fold it like that and let them sort it out. They will get the picture that either way THEY will be turning those clothes right-side out.
Second, let it go and Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. Seriously, when you look back on this time with your children you’ll realize there were things you could have let go and been so much happier just enjoying your time with them.
As a matter of fact I know while reading this you probably thought of at least 5 things (I know I’m still working on some of them) you could let go of and have more happiness in your life, less stress, and more time with your children. Share with me in the comments below some of the things that popped in your head and how can you let them go?
In the end, when it’s all said and done:
A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child. ~ Forest E Whitcraft
To all you Moms out there that are part of the Motherhood of the Inside Out Pants! You ROCK!
Y’all Be Blessed,
Audrey
