I love to load the dishwasher! It is the one household task that I can do breathlessly without thought, consideration or effort. I could stand in my kitchen all day and load and reload our beautiful stainless steel GE domestic device.
I’m quite good at it; my husband gave up loading the dishwasher years ago, because I am indeed so good at it. I simply marvel at that fact, that I am good at it, easily effortlessly good at it. I know this may cause some to pause, who would take refuge in such a thing?
You must know, I was born a klutz, a bull in a china shop, this body of mine holds many lovely qualities but I am as sure as the day is long that not one cell in this little 5 foot 6 body holds a speck of grace, therefore most things in life are not effortless, simple or easy for me, a fact I long ago accepted.
Everything in life that I’ve achieved aside from my marriage, I’ve accomplished by virtue of my own sheer will and force, I am just not one of those people that does effortless very well.
So as I was saying, because of my talent, loading the dishwasher has simply become my job over the years, my husband and I have never discussed it, it’s just something that happens, like each night when we go to bed I sleep on the left side of the bed and he sleeps on the right; it’s automatic, each night after dinner, he rinses the dishes and I promptly load them.
Somehow I can make a pile of dishes and tracings of culinary disarray fit neatly and efficiently into that dishwasher like nobody’s business; 16 plates, 3 cookie sheets, 12 wine glasses, a colander, a spaghetti pot and countless cutlery and 12 steak knives, no problem.
This is quite a feat for someone who doesn’t exactly setup camp on the logical side of the street. This is evident simply because of one blatant fact that (to my own delight or dismay; depending on which day it is) I am my Mother’s daughter; I run short on logical and scholastic knowledge, but long on understanding, feeling, concern, kindness, and the ability care for and take note of the details that make a person who they are.
I have no sense of space, no inherit ability to organize, yet I can utilize every organizational spoke in that stainless steel appliance like you wouldn’t believe. Now this could be due to the hours of lectures my Father gave me as a child about the directional flow of the water, understanding the ratio of size of the dishes, the theory of gravity and the impact of the sum of these equations will have on the resulting cleanness of the dishes, in case you hadn’t noticed my Father has an entire condominium complex built on the logical side of the street.
Regardless of where my hidden talent came from, I do posses it. Today as I was loading the dishwasher I began to wonder why exactly I enjoy it so much and I realized it’s because somehow loading the dishwasher allows me to take a mess and make sense of it, take it apart and put it back together in a way that fits, in a way that makes something dirty clean again, in a way that makes something used, new again.
Don’t we all wish we had a dishwasher for all of our everyday problems, a dishwasher to put our lives into? A dishwasher to clean our homes, marriages, childhoods, careers and relationships; clean of debris, remnants and leftovers, free of that stuck on stuff that just won’t go away.
But then again, without the traces of our past who would we be?
What household tasks have just become “your job” and why?
I’m a self proclaimed recipe maven, wine enthusiast and above all a loving wife. To learn more about me please visit my about page or, follow me on twitter. If you have a question, comment or suggestions feel free to contact me. Thanks for stopping by.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Everything but the trash
My surfer is the only one working right now so I feel guilty and have taken over everything. Don’t get me wrong though he will do laundry and dishes if he gets home before the monkeys and I do.
PS: Bull in the china shop here as well. Recently made a disastrous mess at the coffee shop.
Tickled Red´s last blog ..Pasta Fagioli with Eggplant
Twitter: Mrs_Levine
June 21, 2010 at 2:51 PM
My husband and I had to wait until six years into our marriage to have the space for a dishwasher. It changed our lives and I’d never go back! We had lots of little fights about the dirty dishes before. Now we both take joy in filling it, although if he were as good as it as you are then I’d happily turn over the whole task.
I love having a dishwasher!! My husband and I are both 50/50 on the dishwasher. The only thing he’s not good at is dusting… and I kind of hate it sometimes because grrr, dust bunnies are NOT fun to have around.
And I have to agree with Tickled Red, I don’t think I’ve ever took the trash out before since we moved in last year, haha.
steph anne´s last blog ..Grandma Riding a Motorcycle & My Mini-Life Crisis!
I agree, Steph. I just love having a dishwasher!
But no..I do not enjoy loading it. In fact, I push that task off on the boyfriend a lot!
Kat´s last blog ..to spoon or not to spoon
i like loading the dishwasher but huh-ate unloading. hate. it. i dunno know why, really.
mylittlebecky´s last blog ..flashbackfriday- waaaaay back
I do everything but the garbage and the laundry (most of the time). We have a dishwasher too, so it isn’t that bad. I enjoy vacuuming. It’s my favorite!
Shannon,
I miss my dishwasher. It’s in my house in America. I’m living in Korea and have to wash the old-fashioned way. I can’t wait to have my dishwasher back. I have a heck of a time washing wine glasses by hand. The dishwashers gets them all sparkling.
Carlon´s last blog ..5 Tips for Improving Your Writing So People Can Understand You
My husband usually loads and starts the dishwasher in the evening. I unload it the next day… I don’t really like doing it, but I really appreciate the fact that Hubby cleans up after dinner most nights, so I can’t complain.