Tuesday is Laundry Day

 Tuesday is Laundry Day

 

Marrying a second time requires being open to change. Especially when you’ve lived alone for a period of time. When Mike and I married, Mike had been widowed over thirty years. It had been over eight years since my husband, Tom, had died. 

 

When you live alone, you get set in certain ways. New routines and the ebb and flow of life become established over time. Routines make us feel comfortable. Secure.

 

When you remarry, it means you have to learn or adapt to someone else’s likes or dislikes. It means negotiating what channel to watch on television or when to watch something. Sometimes it means deciding between wrestling and westerns. At least for him. I would choose a western over wrestling every time.

 

And…it means adjusting to “Tuesday is laundry day.” For years Mike has taken on the chore of doing the laundry each and every Tuesday. It is part of his routine.

 

Me? I always tended to do laundry on an “as needed” basis. When my three daughters were young and all living at home that was pretty much a daily operation.  As they grew I included them in the task. Still, laundry was always my job. Like it or not, I did all the laundry. 

When Mike and I married last April, he made it clear he does the laundry. On Tuesday. “Tuesday is laundry day,” he told me. Who am I to argue with someone intent on doing the task of washing, drying, folding, and putting clothes away?

 

I learned to make sure my dirty clothes were in the hamper for the main event. I didn’t need to sort or prewash. I wasn’t asked to move things from the washer to the dryer. I didn’t need to fold or hang or anything. I do pitch in with putting clothes away from time to time. He appreciates it when I do, but he doesn’t expect it.

 

It is as if I am living in a castle… like a princess in a fairy tale. 

I feel like a pampered woman.

 

It isn’t as though I sit around all day eating bonbons. If you read last week’s post on the Cuban dish picadillo, you may have gleaned from that entry I do most of the cooking. And the grocery shopping. I actually love to cook so that’s good. 

 

Mike mows outside. I run the vacuum inside. We didn’t fuss over that one. He loves his John Deere. I love my Roomba. 

 

There are other areas where we’ve had to adjust. Not many. In fact, we are alike in many ways. When I started writing this post, I asked Mike, “What are some of the adjustments we’ve had to make?”

 

He thought about it and mentioned the laundry and cooking. He said, “I don’t know, Babe, I think we get along a lot better than a lot of folks do who’ve been married longer than we have.”

 

I told him, “I agree.” But I’m not sure he heard me. He was heading back into the bedroom to put the clean clothes away.

 

Like I said, “Tuesday is laundry day.”