Laundry at Midnight

Tonight I did laundry at midnight.  It wasn’t what I had planned to do.  At 11:30pm I was comfortably dozing off while simultaneously trying to watch a show with Jeremy.  To put it simply, it’s been a really busy week.  In addition to our normal schedule, I spent the past two days taking Spring and Graduation pictures at my favorite preschool.  It’s something that I absolutely love, but also something that adds to the busyness which adds to the tiredness as well.  I had nearly fallen asleep when suddenly Jeremy called down to me from upstairs.  “I need a clean white t-shirt for tomorrow,” he said.

I half awake stumbled up the stairs.  One peek into our laundry room and it was pretty obvious that I needed to throw in a load (or ten).  Before bed, Christian also informed me that he was running low on clean white clothes as well.  So that explains how it was midnight and instead of sleeping, I was running a load of laundry so that my husband and child would have the clean clothes that they needed tomorrow morning.  After throwing the load in, I walked into the kitchen to realize that I had a nice countertop full that needed to be cleaned up after making a late after youth group dinner for Jeremy and I.

As I started to clean up, I thought to myself.  Because sometimes being a wife and mom is an endless job.  A part of me wondered why in the world I’d be up at midnight doing laundry and cleaning up my kitchen when I should be sleeping comfortably in my bed.  But as I thought, one main reason slowly came to me.

And it was because of my Mom.

Growing up, my Mom was a solid foundation of love and selflessness in our home.  My Dad worked hard to provide for our family outside of the home, but it was always my Mom that kept things going smoothly inside of our home.  She cooked meat, vegetable and potato meals for us every night and always had clean laundry freshly folded in our drawers.  Our house was always neat and clean and that was mostly because of my mom as well.

As I got older, I quickly realized that my mom was not only a hard worker, she was also a beautiful example of what it meant to live a generous life.  She would selflessly give up things that she wanted so that we could have everything that we needed and then some.  I remember many times that I needed this or that for school or sports and I’d see her give me money that I knew she could have used or kept for herself.  She never did this grudgingly, but always put our needs before her own.

My mom also gave of her time.  Throughout the years, we were all involved in one sport or another and she was the one who made sure we got to our practices and games.  She and my Dad sat through countless concerts as my sisters and I were all in Piano, Band and various Choirs.  Most importantly, my parents also gave of their time when it came to our church activities as well.  They chaperoned many Youth Group trips which we could not have done without their time or support.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m adopted.  But I most always knew that my Mom loved me and my sisters just as though we were her very own, because we were.  She was there for me so many times and I couldn’t have asked for a better Mom.

My Mom helped me move into my first apartment in College

And was there helping me on my Wedding Day as well.

As the years have flown by, she readily stepped into her new role as a loving and caring and giving Grandma as well.  She currently keeps herself busy with her fifteen grandkids and I know that she loves being there for them so much.

Oh, and her favorite thing to do, if you ask our Ellee girl, is to go shopping and to spoil her grandkids.  Ellee’s gotten to be the recipient of this spoiling many times when Grandma has come to visit her.

And so, tonight, the reason that I’m doing laundry at midnight, it because of the example that I saw in my Mom.  She was always willing to put our needs before her own.  So as I was waiting for my laundry to dry, I couldn’t help but take time to pay tribute to the woman who taught me to live as selflessly as possible.  My Mom modeled such a beautiful example of how to love and serve others.  As I work to love and serve my own family, I can do so knowing that I had the very best example when I was growing up.

Thanks Mom.