The Journey of a Lifetime

It began like any other day: early morning, fast breakfast, quick run, getting ready for my day. I closed the book I was reading when the timer went off and climbed the dark stairs of my home. I walked up them, carefully stepping over the squeaky fourth and seventh steps.

The house was still quiet; my family all sleeping. It would be a few hours before the silence would be broken by the other activities of daily living.

The laundry room¹ sits adjacent to the bedrooms where most of my people sleep. As quietly as possible, I pulled open the door of the dryer and retrieved the clothes that warmed my chilled hands.

I love the feel of warm laundry. It’s a simple reminder of why I do it: my people. Most people don’t find joy washing and folding clothing for their own sake. It’s a representative activity; a simple act of service for people I love.

As anyone who regularly engages in domestic chores knows, most of them are fairly thankless activities. Most of the time, children never take the time to thank their parents for the work they do for them just to keep the family wheels turning. These activities are in the category of the visibly invisible: utilized every day, but rarely do they result in any kind of recognition.

I experienced the lives of Depression-era kids through the eyes of my grandparents. My paternal grandfather never really showed any emotions other than happiness and anger. Sadness spilling out of his eyes was just not in the cards for him. Being stoic was just part of who he was.

I tell myself a story that they were just better at doing so many of the humdrum activities of life without complaint; that they never sought validation or recognition for a job well done. Of course, that’s probably the myopia of my own youth speaking.

Today, it seems that people crave validation more than ever before. I don’t know if that’s a symptom of being less self-secure. Or, is validation something that leads to greater emotional well-being?

We’re significantly influenced by so many larger-than-life individuals who are thrust into our lives over and over again by traditional and social media outlets alike. Their aim: to make the masses believe two things:

No matter how hard we try, we’ll never be as good as those people.
We should try anyway; exhausting every effort to gain followers and influence.

It can become an all-consuming pursuit². It’s so easy to get lost; so easy, in fact, that we often done realize it’s happening.

And so, I invite you back to my piles of laundry: separated carefully into piles for each of my people; towels on the right, socks in a pile on the floor.

I’ve been married to my best friend for almost 21 years. Together, we have 5 beautiful children. Our oldest child is about to leave the nest. We hope that we’ve taught him and our other children enough lessons to become good, contributing members of society.

I haven’t scaled the highest peaks on any continent. I don’t hold any world records. I’ve never rubbed shoulders with anyone even kind of famous. I’ve never even been to Madison Square Garden let alone played it. By influencer and celebrity standards, my life isn’t filled with grand adventures. But, know this:

I am happy.

What my wife and I have built (together with tons of support from our extended family and friends), in retrospect, is pretty breathtaking.

When properly considered, there is something — many somethings — in every life worthy of recognition. The challenge is pausing long enough to see it.

To all those people who are powering along, doing the best you can with what you have; trying to make a difference in the life of some other person, I salute you.

Keep going.

You’re making a difference in the life of someone who may never recognize you for it.

One pile of laundry at a time.

Thanks for reading!

¹ As I’ve stated before, the privilege I enjoy is not lost on me. This little musing is literally dripping with it.

²I don’t miss the irony here. I’m writing this article on what is essentially a social media platform in hopes that some few people will read this and perhaps enjoy it. Yes, the more people who read my writing, the more I make — though I haven’t yet arrived at a sufficient income level to purchase a combo meal at Del Taco on what I make each month.