How many dishes have you washed in your life? I think I have perhaps washed one million dishes, maybe 1.2 million. It feels like a mountain! Seriously! And while I prefer to leave my kitchen clean at night, so it greets me that same way in the morning, there always seems to be dishes to do, laundry to fold, diapers to change, hands to wash, bills to pay and etc. Rinse and repeat.
Mundane tasks can be mind numbing and a drain on joy. But they can also be strangely beautiful. Let me share with you why.
My mom (and also Kayleen’s mom, as we are sisters) 🙂 was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in her 50s. For the next several years, it was a constant readjustment to the progressive handicaps of that terrible disease. Early on she repeated herself incessantly, retelling us stories that she told us just 5 minutes before. We didn’t realize how soon we would miss those stories, as the disease progressed and her talking became more and more limited, until she was unable to communicate. I remember the first time she didn’t recognize me. It was a terrible bitter shock of something precious lost. Soon, she was bound to a chair, and months later a bed, still alive, but not really living.
My dad and all of us kids experienced a tornado of emotions as we tried to alleviate her increasingly bleak situation. I bet my mom would have traded her years in a wheelchair and hospital bed for another mountain of dishes if that meant she could have dinner with her family. I’m sure she would have been willing to fold all the laundry in the house, if it meant she could go to the soccer games of her grandchildren.
My youngest kids only knew a frail grandma who stared vacantly from a hospital bed. They never heard her delightful laugh or saw her joy over every hummingbird. They only tasted whatever recipes I made from her book. Only two of Kayleen’s kids actually remember ever meeting their grandmother.
This article is not intended to be morose. It is a gentle reminder of the beauty of the everyday. We don’t know to treasure it, until it becomes complicated or difficult.
One evening I was struggling with a massive project. I had taken on what was honestly just above my capability. I purchased a new software for the project, learned it and was trying to create something magical for an upcoming event for 400 people. It was a challenge that seemed exhausting with a deadline coming up in two days. At 1 o clock in the morning, I wasn’t making any progress and decided to start again the next day. I turned off lights only to find a few dishes left in the sink. I decided to tackle the task since they would just make me grumpy the next morning. As I started to wash those dishes, I was suddenly stunned that washing dishes was incredibly easy. I remember even saying it out loud despite the fact no one was awake to hear me! “Wow! This is so stinking easy!” I reveled in the simplicity that had previously gone unnoticed.
Who knew? Dishes are easy! They are just reoccurring and represent family dinners and connections with people I adore. Laundry represents volleyball games, hikes with my family, dance recitals and playing with cousins.
I know you have had experiences in which your life has became complicated. So if today is an ordinary day, let’s hear a cheer! Do something creative on this beautifully ordinary day, like decorate for the upcoming season! Send a text to a loved one or a neighbor who could use a kind word. Use this thankfully ordinary day to spread some good!
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