I am in my tiny, little laundry room that is right next to the family room.
As much as I detest doing laundry, I do like my cozy, little laundry room as it has a door on it and since the entire On The Upside family believes this is MY room (because no one has a clue how to do laundry, will go near the laundry room for fear I will ask them to do laundry, never takes it upon themselves to sort, load, fold or hang any laundry ever, whatsoever, at any time!), I can normally wander in there - into MY little 8ft. x 6ft. space -close the door and ESCAPE for brief moments of solitude.
I sort clothes.
I load clothes.
I fold clothes.
I hang clothes.
It's mindless work, really, so ... I am content to hang out there for ten minutes or twenty minutes at a time and escape from all human contact and just let my mind wander and be massaged by the swish - swish - swish of my Kenmore washing machine and the drum - drum - drum of my Kenmore dryer.
It is peaceful, in a laundromat sort of way.
It is simple work and I enjoy moments of simple.
It is relatively quiet and, while my hands are normally quite busy, my rattled brain is offered these daily minutes to be cleansed and massaged back to some semblance of sanity because ...
This is MY 6ft. x 8ft. space in our house.
This is MY little oasis (while not at all tropical and lacking a hammock or even a chair and there are no fruity, umbrella drinks or handsome cabana boys).
But ...
It is often MY refuge ...
That is ...
Unless ...
Alexis searches the house ...
Opens the door ...
And invites her seven year old ...
BOUNCY
LOUD
RAMBUNCTIOUS
TALKATIVE
self ...
Into MY 6ft. x 8ft world.
*sigh*
"Hi Hon."
"Knock - knock."
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Banana who?"
"Knock - knock."
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Banana who?"
"Knock - knock."
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Cabana who?"
"NO - banana!"
"Oh, yeah."
"Now I have to start all over again. Knock - knock."
*sigh*
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Hey - let's play hide and seek," I interrupt this JOKE! "You go hide."
She runs off happily and searches for the best hiding place ever. I can hear her LOUDNESS still ... even over the swish - swish - swish of my Kenmore washer and the drum - drum - drum of my Kenmore dryer.
*Laundry lady quietly tip-toes over and closes the door to the tiny laundry room and pretends to count, but really ... REALLY ... she escapes back to the islands, where she is lying in a hammack beneath the tallest and shadiest palm trees enjoying the soothing sounds of the ocean waves as they lap playfully against the beach . She opens her eyes only briefly to see her handsome cabana boy walking toward her in his blue and white floral swim trunks, bare, beach-bronzed chest and and sun-bleached hair and ... in his hand is a PINA COLADA with a pink umbrella stickin' out of the top of the frost covered glass and on his gorgeous face is a smile that says, "I am here to serve you - can I get you anything else."*
On the upside ... Yes - yes you can.
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