I remember the mountain of laundry from the days of three children, a dog, a cat, a hamster, goldfish and a bunny.

I never caught up...I did laundry every day for years and still there was laundry to do...I used to do it on the run in and out the door to work. Once my washer broke down and I fell behind...it took me a year to catch up.

Once my middle child brought home a head lice...just the one...I had to wash everything in the house...everything. It was a blur...the laundry soap company started to send me coupons for free vacations. I spent hours in the tub with Calgon waiting for it to "take me away." (False advertising there)

There was no escape...laundry was my life. I stopped ironing. I just gave up...I convinced myself that I liked wrinkled clothing. I darn all the clothes that need mending over the garbage can...saying "darn, darn, darn" and then I drop it in.

The kids are all grown now...with their own laundry delimmas. The cats, dogs, fish and other pets just a distant memory. Still to this day...everytime I open up the lid of the washer, I break out in a fine sheen of sweat...memories.

The man I live with now...actually does his own laundry. To a woman with my "laundry past"...that is very romantic. It's like giving me flowers every week. I try to encourage independance in the laundry area as much as possible. I have another story about teaching my son to do his own laundry but not enough room here...later for that.