And finally, the laundry

Since I mentioned doing laundry in the tag line of my blog title, I think it is time I got to that subject. And coincidentally, I have a laundry story today.

This morning was one of my carpool mornings. When I arrived at the school parking lot where I drop off the kids, there was a giant box in the middle of the lot. It was about five feet by five feet to give you some idea of its size. In it were all the unclaimed school sweatshirts, t-shirts and various religious undergarments that have gone missing throughout the school year.

Since Zeve loses more than his fair share of jackets and the likes, I jumped out of the car hoping to recoup a few items. In particular, I was looking for one sweatshirt jacket that he managed to lose the very first time he wore it. I figure he lost sight of it somewhere around the noon soccer game. And since it was new, it was ripe for the picking.

So I jumped out of my car this morning and approached the box. I hesitated when I got there because it was full of what was now really grungy clothes. I guess my cleanliness instinct went into gear, but I couldn't afford to humour it because I was on a mission to redeem Zeve's many missing items.

Looking through the box is sort of like a really gross day in Filene's Basement. You have to have no shame to wade into the pile of clothes. Fortunately I was able to leave my shame in the car and get to work.

Keep in mind that almost everything in the box is some shade of school-approved blue. That's why Yael's grey and white fluffy sweater quickly caught my eye.

"Yael! This is a Shabbat sweater," I said (she was right beside me watching the goings on). "What is it doing in the Lost and Found Box?"

"Oh yeah, I wore it to school one day," she said.

A few seconds later, I noticed another very familiar Shabbat sweater of Yael's. And again, I dragged it out of the box and inquired about how it got there is the first place. Same answer.

Then came the moment that nothing in the previous few minutes could have prepared me for. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an off-white sweater in the sea of blue sweatshirts. I looked a little closer and noticed that it had an unusual stitching. Then I grabbed for it, and checked the label. It was a Liz Claiborne zip-up fancy sweatshirt..... and I knew instantly that it was mine!!!

"Yael! How exactly did my white sweater end up the Lost and Found Box at school????" As if I didn't know. And that nine-year-old pilfering she-devil looked at me and said fake-innocently: "I don't know. Maybe you lost it and the school found it."

Then she just left and went up the hill to her class. "Yael, don't you ever take my clothes to school again." I think I said that more for me than for her. I am willing to bet that she has no intention of abiding by that rule.

I was so shocked that I mentioned the entire event to my friend Esther. Then she said the funniest thing. "I remember the day my daughter's feet outgrew my shoes. It was a great day." I knew instantly what she meant.

The other moment of reckoning today was that after all that searching, I found two of Yael's previously unknown-to-be missing sweaters, one of my stolen sweaters and only one of Zeve's myriad missing items. The one item I specifically got out of the car to find remains missing. And all the other items are in their second run through the washing machine.