Last Friday our dryer broke. It was very bad timing because the laundry was already piled high and we were running low on cloth diapers. The situation was desperate and if someone did not get to a laundromat that Saturday there would have been several individuals without clean underwear for the rest of the weekend.
It was the day before Mother's Day so Paul kindly came to the rescue. He loaded up the van with the equivalent of 6 loads of laundry including some wet laundry from the loads that had been washed but not dried. He also loaded 6 kids. I got the afternoon off and got to drop by the mall and Stake Women's Conference with baby George.
Paul had actually been itching to check out the
Mr. Stadium laundromat , I think because of
their famous T-shirts you sometimes see around town. He called me halfway into the task to share how impressed he was with the facility - the cleanliness, the raw power of the machines, the sense of community, the broad selection of snacks etc - and admitted to finally sharing my vision for a
dream laundry room setup. Never mind the sorting, he bragged how all six loads fit into
one industrial machine. It was a successful trip - 6 loads in about an hour - but the kids got a little impatient and Paul had to cut some of the drying a bit short.
I still can't believe he attempted it - all the laundry with all the kids. But when I came home I was confused by the couch draped in still slightly damp clothing. The banister and Paul's office chair were also draped in cloth diapers, while a fan blew at full speed and all the windows were open on this cold (54 degree) Saturday. The clothes still weren't completely dry but I really was in no position to question or critisize. Instead I just complimented how great he looked in his new T-shirt. He wore it proudly just like I use to wear my race T-shirts from cross-country state finals, fun runs and larger races like the Boise marathon. He wore it as if to say, "yes I was there and I accomplished something great".
I forgot to mention that a new dryer was ordered that same day but would not be delivered until Monday. There would be no more laundry excuses with a brand new large capacity dryer.
A few days into last week, I think it was Wed., one of our children wet the bed then decided to climb into our bed where they then completely emptied their bladder. Paul was the one to discover it, it was on his side of the bed and I was already asleep. Not wanting to wake anyone he laid towels over the puddles then tried to get comfortable along the foot of the bed. I don't think he got much sleep and sighed when another child tip-toed into our room regretfully confessing they too had wet their bed. But when one of the older boys came bounding into our room in the early morning screaming "Henry took off his diaper in his crib" we couldn't help but laugh. We stopped laughing when we discovered it was a poopy diaper that he had taken off. Paul bravely announced.... "it looks like I'm going to have to make another trip to Mr. Stadium". It was early in the morning so I gladly gave him the job.
$9.25 in quarters later (including $0.75 for 3 Ms. Pac-Man games for William) Paul returned home with William carrying their trophies of fresh clean folded bedding. This time they bought the huge Mr. Stadium laundry bag because Paul said "we just might need it again".
Days later Paul told me this nugget. As he was finishing unloading the Dexter Thoroughbred 1200 washing machine he discovered something flat, circular and brown. At first glance, from a distance, it looked like a penny. But as Paul reached in to pluck it out he soon realized it was actually an original piece from Henry's removed diaper. Cleaned, polished and pressed flat from the force of the industrial machine. Paul didn't tell me that for a few days, maybe because I would have sent him back to rewash it all again.
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