This article appeared in the News Magazine "About Me" September 29, 2007

Tales to lighten your load

Moms’ laundry stories offer inspirational insights into daily life

BY ERICA K. DANIELS
FOR FLORIDA TODAY

We all have dirty laundry. I’m not talking about shameful secrets that we neatly tuck away into our memory vault. I mean the real deal. Smelly socks, T-shirts with spaghetti sauce stains, a preschooler’s soiled underwear, shirts with yellow underarm rings … You get the picture.

It stinks, but you must deal with dirty laundry.

When I was growing up, my mother had a way of dealing with dirty dishes. Above our kitchen sink she hung a plaque with a poem by an anonymous author. It read, “Thank God for dirty dishes; they have a tale to tell. While others may go hungry, we’re eating very well. With home, health and happiness, I shouldn’t want to fuss; by the stack of evidence, God’s been very good to us.”

To this day, I love doing the dishes.

“Laundry Tales to Lighten Your Load,” by Melissa Howell, Angie Peters and the Celebrate Moms team, twists the traditional view of tackling a mundane chore. Its authors take a refreshing look at dirty laundry.

The book is a collection of stories based on the experiences of mothers (and a couple of dads) from all walks of life. Working moms, stay-at-home moms, moms who work from home, young moms, old moms. They all have a tale to tell.
Their stories take a retrospective look at laundry blunders and common dirty-clothes woes, bringing a clean and refreshing (often sobering) attitude to the laundry room of life.

From missing socks to whites gone pink, I can relate with many of the stories. One of my favorites is called “Bridging the Panty Gap,” by Kathy Howard.
The title alone piqued my curiosity. In a true Beavis and Butthead moment, I snickered to myself, “Hee, hee … she says ‘panty.’ ”

I had to take a peek.

The tale goes on to describe an utterly embarrassing encounter between male friends of Howard’s teenage daughters and Howard’s “granny panties.”
Howard, determined to “bring some youth and vitality” into her undergarments, decided to take a walk on the wild side and purchase some new panties. She looked beyond beige and white, opting for patterns, colors and animal prints -- all in the name of bridging the panty gap.

Did it work? You have to read the book to find out.

Some tales tickle the funny bone, while others beckon tears. But every one is worth reading. And, because each story stands independently, it’s the kind of book you can read between, “Mommy! Mommy!” and “Honey, what’s for dinner?”

Each story is brief -- no more than three pages long -- but none lack inspiration.
Author and speaker Sandra Stanford of Titusville wrote a truly inspiring story, especially for a new mom like me.

Stanford, who is the newest member of the Celebrate Moms team, says she is blessed to be included in this book. Under pressure to come up with a laundry tale, Stanford thought about every angle of her daily duty.

“Nothing really exciting has every happened with my laundry. No pink laundry, no rocks in the washer. I’ve never had any laundry mishaps. But I do have a noisy dryer.
“One day my neighbor made a remark about fixing or getting rid of our dryer. So I started thinking about how that related to parenting and the noises our kids make,” Stanford says.

As the mother of two teenage children, Stanford has plenty of noise in her household.

“Children make noises the moment they come into the world. Their cries are initially for food, a clean diaper or just to be held. When they’re older, they cry out for attention, and I want to be sure to meet this need so they don’t turn elsewhere,” she writes in her story, “Squeaky Clean.”

Stanford writes about taking time to watch television with her daughter and read books with her son. Listening to them helps her develop a strong relationship with them.

“My son read my laundry tale, and he loved it. But when my daughter read it, she helped me realize that there was even more I need to do to be there for her.”
After reading Stanford’s tale I was inspired to pay closer attention to my daughter’s noise. Deadlines and laundry can wait. A needy toddler who is screaming, “potty! potty!” cannot.

From cover to cover, “Laundry Tales to Lighten Your Load” is brimming with wisdom, light-hearted humor and practical advice that will forever change your view of dirty laundry.

As a bonus, the book also features several “Sudsy Suggestions,” “Load Lighteners” and “Laundry’s Life Lessons.” These sections include tips and inspirational thoughts from the authors.

This book is perfect for any woman who needs to lighten her load. (Don’t we all?) So put down your fairy tale and reach for a laundry tale.

Erica K. Daniels is a freelance writer and photographer. She is full-time mom to daughter, Kayla, and stepmom to Hannah, Aaron and Andrew. She can be reached at iamblewish@yahoo.com.