Dirty Dishes

I used to hate washing dishes. But at my house, if I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t get done. So begrudgingly I washed dishes everyday, knowing that no matter how many times I performed this dreaded chore, it wouldn’t be long before I’d be doing it again.  Using the automatic dishwasher was out, as was using paper plates, since they go against the environmentalist in me. As long as my family ate at home, there would be dirty dishes in need of washing. Here’s how I learned to deal with the problem so that I would never again stand at my kitchen sink and hate washing  dishes.

Alone Time

My kitchen sits way at the back of the house. All the fun stuff goes on at the front of the house. When I’m in the kitchen I can hear my family in the front room having fun without me, but for some reason they can never hear me when I attempt to join the conversation.  It’s like I’m in a different world. I decided to make that work for me. Sometimes throughout the day, I feel as if I’m on overload. I’m trying to complete a thought to write and one of my kids just can’t wait to share some really exciting bit of their day with me. As a result. I have incomplete poems and articles that will never be published. Many of my thoughts are no more than fragments that are lost to the moment. But when I’m washing dishes, I discovered I have big chunks of “alone time” where I can mull over my thoughts and actually sort them out and complete them. All the while my hands are doing busy work, my mind is free to roam and I have time to create. And I accomplished all of this without an ounce of guilt. I never have to ask my family to respect my need for “alone time” because everybody leaves me alone when I’m washing dishes.

A Blessing or a Curse

I used to see sink loads of dirty dishes as a curse bestowed upon me. They were never done. As soon as I put the last clean glass in the cupboard, someone had placed a dirty one in the sink. But when I looked at it from a different perspective, I came to realize that dirty dishes were not a curse but proof of the many blessings in my life. There is nothing more important to me than my two sons. I love them as I never knew love was possible. Dirty dishes were the result of those two blessings in my life and in my home. And like most mothers, I delight in seeing my children eat. Dirty dishes meant there was food on the table and my babies had full tummies. And best of all, dirty dishes meant I was needed. No matter how many times I washed dishes, there were always more to be washed.

Perspective

Now I bet you thought I was going to tell you a story about how to get out of washing dirty dishes. Sorry if I disappointed you. On the other hand, the secrets I’ve shared with you here are far more valuable. We cannot change the world,  just as I couldn’t stop the dirty dishes from piling up in my sink. What we can change, is the way we look at things. With a new perspective, I no longer hate washing dirty dishes.