Yesterday, after school, I went to MSU for an OWP meeting. It was nice to see people, and we really needed to get some work done. It was raining pretty good on my way in to Siceluff, so I didn't bring my computer in. (And I really didn't want to because then I would be more distracted and it would feel more like work). After sitting down at the table and reconnecting with everyone using our talking stick, I started to write, unprovoked. That's something that rarely happens. But now, as I'm writing every day, I'm looking for things to write about, and I'm finding things that I want to write about even when I don't have time.
I began writing about ironing. It's something that I've wanted to write about for some time, but just haven't. Below is not the exact version that I wrote, because I did go through and edit, but I actually told myself, as I was writing, that I would go through and edit. It's cliché filled and lousy, but I hope you enjoy.
Ironing.
It presses out the creases. It gets out the wrinkles.
It’s a great way to start a day. I do it to cleanse my mind. When I “press” my shirts I can feel my tightened mind loosen. I prepare myself for work by making myself “look sharp”—as my father might say. I act to stop the grind while somehow participating in the grind: I must iron my pants and shirts every morning; it is part of the routine. But somehow it is apart from all the rest of it.
Ironing comes after I read and journal and pray. That is a two-part intentional choice. I don’t want to sit down and wrinkle my newly crisp clothes. Sometimes I don’t want to read and journal and pray, but I force myself to do it, even when I’m running late. The intent is to prepare myself for the day—mentally and spiritually. The outcome is usually a desire for more time to sit and be quiet before my Creator. It’s then, in my morning routine, that I rise to iron out the wrinkles from my clothes. It is then that I feel my muscles begin to relax, and my mind grow at ease with the plans for the day. Yes, there is much to do, but with the right combination, anything is possible.
When I walk out of my study, where I iron, I walk out a neatly dressed, new man. I walk out armed to take on the day. There’s a mental shift that takes place, a loosening of the anxious bonds that rush me from shower to shave to shake to vitamins to _______________.
I don’t know why or how or when it happened, but I love ironing in the morning.
You should get rid of this line: "That’s totally cliché and junior high, but it’s true." I like the previous line about flying. I also love the line about "looking sharp." Such a Dad thing to say, but I love it. It tells a lot. My dad's thing was "Do I look too good?" But the meaning was, you can never look too good, and it's okay to be the best dressed person in the room.
ReplyDeleteIt feels like you changed this since you shared it on Tuesday. Did you?
I did change it a little bit. "Looking sharp" is something my dad has always said, and still does. About hair cuts, being dressed nice, even when the grass is cut well and it looks nice it is "looking sharp." Funny.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion.
Hmmm Ironing... I used to love it! At the end of a day with a pile of wrinkled clothes I loved to set up the board, heat up my iron and move my can of spray starch close to me. I loved the sound of the steam and the magic of the wrinkles ironed out. Lots of friends wondered about me, and would have loved it if offered to take on their piles, but mine were just enough. And now... I rarely iron, rarely...
ReplyDeleteWe have something else in common :)
Bonnie