The Magic Hamper

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Growing up, there was a hamper  down the hall that my brothers and I shared. Into that one hamper, we’d put clothes, towels, jerseys, sheets, everything. When I got home from school, the hamper would be empty and there would be perfectly neat piles of clean clothes folded on my bed. It was magical.

And as you may imagine – I was one of those college students that did not know how to do their own laundry. There were many phone calls with my mom 2,000 miles away explaining to me how to wash my clothes. Lots of clothes got ruined that year, and lots of times I wished my hamper was still magical.

Then, many years after my freshman year of college, long after I had learned all too well how to wash clothes properly, I was a mother to three small children. Suddenly I was the magic behind the hamper … still am.

There is hardly a time that I load up the washer and do not remember my mom. Laundry is now a strength of mine, a part of my housework routine that I have down to a consistent science. I still feel the love of the magic hamper, but now the fuller part of that love that goes both ways: receiving and giving.

To all the mothers out there. The little things count. Your work is important. Our work is important.

And to my Mom – Thank you for everything. The day-to-day work you did was immeasurable and likely not properly appreciated then, but it was magical. Because of you, the magic continues, hopefully for generations to come. I’ll love you always.