My son, Cameron, is a Senior at Western Kentucky University. He has accomplished all sort of things in his four years of college and is clearly able to live independently. Cameron can do and most likely often does do his own laundry. And yet when he comes home he brings a big hamper stuffed with clothes. To be honest I don't know if he brings it home because he needs it done or if he brings it home because he knows I like to do it. He may come home on a Friday evening and be leaving on a Sunday afternoon and I will take great joy in processing the three or four loads of laundry through washer and dryer and eventually folded and back into the hamper to journey forth with him once more. There isn't much that I can do for him at this point - doing the laundry is a tangible thing I can still do - and remember, I like doing the laundry.
One of the sub-categories of doing the laundry is the timely laundry - laundry that must be done by a particular point in time because a particular item of clothing is needed. Delving even deeper in this category there is the further sub-category of athletic laundry. For Cameron it was soccer uniforms and socks from the time he was around four until his Senior year of high school. Those days are behind me.
For my daughter, Eliza, it was first soccer and then it became basketball laundry. Mt. Washington Lady Generals laundry. AAU laundry. Bullitt East Lady Chargers laundry. Basketball has been a year round sport since the sixth grade and that has meant uniforms, socks, sliders, practice gear...lots of moments of asking, "What do you need for tomorrow?" and hearing, "I'm not sure, I'll think about it" or "I'll have it in a few minutes - I'll throw it down the stairs to you". That sort of thing. On Monday evening Eliza had a game, the first round of the regional basketball tournament. I had put the clothes in the washer in the morning and had intended to be back to put them in the dryer well before she got out of school. Afternoon came and I was leaving a hospital visit when I remembered the clothes in the washer. They needed to be moved to the dryer so they would be ready when she needed them. A quick text of explanation and reassurance and a purposeful drive home and the needed clothes were dry and ready in time. This may all seem kind of trivial in the larger frame of things that must be accomplished in life, but timely laundry is a sacred trust - especially athletic timely laundry.
So here's the thing. We won that game Monday evening. We have another one tonight. It's the regional semi-final. At best there are a handful of games left. We've been through Senior night. We won our district which allowed us another home game and we have been through that additional home game and we were grateful to see her play on the home floor one more time. That's great stuff and hard stuff and bittersweet stuff. But it's stuff you can anticipate.
I was just doing the laundry, because, you know, I do the laundry. Eliza brought some stuff last night when I asked her what she needed for today. It's done. Ready. Waiting.
I know there isn't much more of it, but I hope I have a few more days of doing timely athletic laundry. I love doing laundry. Did I mention that...
