I need to remind myself of the wonder that is laundry, and the beauty that is me doing laundry.

Laundry was a huge issue for me when I was drinking. I�ll bet I did about four loads of laundry a year. Okay, maybe eight. I could not force myself to do laundry. Part of the problem was my laundry situation. The laundry room in my building requires exact change and is dirty and roachy. In addition, the neighbors can be difficult over laundry issues. Mostly, though, the laundry problem was a drinking problem, and the laundry and drinking problems were both based in my refusal to consider the consequences of my actions, or inactions.

The consequence of not doing laundry was wearing dirty clothes to work, which I did regularly for years. Sometimes I noticed that I smelled. At these times I relied on people�s tendency to disbelieve the unlikely, or what they considered to be the unlikely. They wouldn�t wear dirty clothes to work, so they couldn�t imagine why anyone else would. Perhaps it was just people�s desire to avoid a distasteful conversation. Either way, no one ever called me on it.

If only they had invented Febreze a few years earlier. That�s a product obviously made for drunks. Normal people wash their clothes when they start to smell. People who have rendered themselves incapable of doing laundry through alcohol and/or drug use turn to Febreze. Other good products for drunks include StressTabs, Pedialyte, and Alka-Seltzer Morning Relief. I love that shit.

Nowadays I do laundry religiously. I do four loads a week, just for me. I do laundry on Friday nights when my neighbors are out carousing and I have the place to myself. There�s a moment, every time, when I�m putting away the last folded item, and I�m dumbstruck: I just did the laundry. I cleaned my clothes in preparation for the week ahead. I can't believe it.

I still don�t enjoy doing laundry, but I very much enjoy having done the laundry. I don�t want to forget what a big deal it is.

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