delara, interrupted

Paulie and I went to the laundromat last night. It brought back so many fun memories of when we were first married and living in Chapel Hill. We would do our laundry at the laundromat there because although our complex had its own washers, etc. there were only two in our building and they were seldom available. The people who lived around us had very clean clothes.

So we would make an event of it. We would take magazines, bills to pay, books, and even meals to the laundromat to settle in for the afternoon and just do laundry together. And read. Or whatever. It was actually very relaxing. Maybe that's why between the two of us I like doing the laundry. That and I'm perpetually afraid that Paul will shrink my clothes.

I noted, as my sleeping bag was being cleaned from the mushed Mounds bar, how crazy our lives had become. Not just busy, but really crazy. That I found spending an hour at the laundromat just as relaxing as having a three hour full body massage tells me how crazy it is. Our lovely friends called us on a Tuesday a couple of weeks ago to invite us for a dinner party the next evening and I STILL haven't called them back to tell them we couldn't go. Pathetic.

What's it all about anyway? Service to humanity, loyalty and commitment to doing a good job (whatever it takes), being productive, making it all fit into the weekly schedule, and all that - what's it about? Really? Living fully? Or barely living?

I long for simplicity. And space.

And ironically, I have this illusion that having a baby will make things slow down. True, I am a fool! But in a way, I think the precious soul will make those unimportant things fall out of view and will instead bring the most important into very clear focus. It's a hormonal thing. And a spiritual thing. Hm.