During football and wrestling season, you can easily add an extra 100 loads for a total of 830 loads per year.
I work my dryer out. And the washer. I love them. I wipe them down. I speak to them. I speak with affection when talking to them. I love them.
Saturday is "sheet day" and I never miss a Saturday. I have taught all my children to appreciate fresh sheets.
I love my washer and dryer.
Years ago, when Franklin and I moved in together, he bought me a dryer at used appliance store for $25. It was the best dryer ever. It died on the same Sunday the Carolina Panthers were in their Superbowl and I had two in diapers. Part of me died too that day when my dryer stopped working.
Saturday morning, Walker and Zack (my son from another mother who is busy taking care of her elderly parents in another state) had to leave early am for a wrestling tournament. I sprinted up those stairs to grab the sheets and towels (it was Saturday after all) and started load before 6am. As the morning continued, I washed and dried.
Franklin and I left for the tournament with two loads to go in the dryer and one in the washer.
When we bolted in door late Saturday night, I hit the start button to my old friend but he never warmed up.
Ugh. "all I want for Christmas is a new dryer" said no one ever.
I went to bed and decided to tackle it in the am.
Sunday morning, I sprang from my bed to give my dryer another chance. Again, he didn't heat up.
I threw on some jeans and went to the Laundry mat before 8am. I waited in line to get to a Laundry mat on a Sunday. (possible adulthood fail)
I threw the wet clothes in and then went to the store. Shopped, went back to the Laundry mat and was home by 930 am.
I went to church and came home for Family Day.
Family Day (according to Franklin and me) is the day where we are a family. No friends coming and no going to any friend's houses. We eat as a family, we do nothing as a family, or we do something as a family. Our kids HATE it but we don't care.
So for Family Day, (and let me just add I let them sleep in because the tournament day was so long) I had made plans for us to go get the Christmas tree and then go to church for the Advent Wreath making/Spaghetti Dinner. You can imagine how this was going over.
I decided to give them each an early Christmas gift to start their day.
In the process, I asked Zack to take more wet laundry to his house to dry until we could get the new heating element in the dryer.
After all, I he had now moved his box turtles in as well (until his mom gets back). I had a plan.
While we were attending the Wreath making, I noticed the boys on their phones (a no no) and all of the sudden "they needed to use the bathroom".
Shortly afterward, the boys asked, "can we go please?" They could not eat dinner (wrestling season) and they were going to go check on the dry clothes.
Ok, I am a sap. Franklin and I stayed at the dinner and then returned home. As we pulled down the road, we noticed that Walker's truck was gone. But as we pulled in the driveway, we saw Walker's truck backed up to the front stairs and Walker and Zack were unloading a dryer.
Our first thought was "OMG, they took the dryer from Zack's house and brought it to ours" and what kind of a move is this?
We walked into the house and there they were, moving the new dryer into the laundry room with the old one already in the garage.
WTH?
As it turns out, my little Maytag Repair men, found a used dryer on Craig's list and went and purchased it.
My first Christmas gift was a $37 used Maytag that "even came with straps to strap in the truck."
Years ago, Addie came home with this picture of Rudolph. Obviously, she had not mastered staying within the lines. She was proud of this picture. "It is your Christmas gift, frame it."
I did frame it. And every year I display it proudly. She was so excited to bring this home and share it with us. She said, "I never knew I could make something this good."
When I think about these young men calling somebody from Craig's List and then "making the deal" and loading it all to surprise me, my heart swells. And they were proud of themselves. They "never knew they could do something this good."
"You gave us an early present, we gave you one."
I love my new dryer. I love the smell of the fabric softener blowing out of the vent onto my porch when I drink my coffee in the still of the morning.
If I live to be 100, I will never forget watching those young boys carrying that dryer out of the back of the truck and into the house. It warms my heart. Merry Early Christmas to me.
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