The Laundromat.

It has been a long while since I've stepped foot inside a laundromat - I had to wonder if there was such a thing anymore... then I realized that time hadn't changed as much as life had changed - for me, that is.

I've had multiple comforters and a down bed in need of cleaning - and why it didn't occur to me earlier I have no idea, but a laundromat is the perfect place to find a 55-lb. mega loader (pardon my french) and a 75lb. dryer for just this purpose - at a fraction of the cost of dry cleaning. Although you may already know that there are places to have your stuff 'washed' as opposed to 'dry cleaned', I did not. And although I know now, I wouldn't pass up a great opportunity to spend 3 hours with my kiddos inside one of the best smelling places on the block - you understand me, right Jenny? Washers and dryers whirring around you and people doing everything from laughing with the owner about what Cindy's up to to watching the local news; there's a large black woman and her teenage daughter talking while the one loads the washer and the other keeps her hands in her pockets; there's the gentleman in his 50s standing over a folding table and smiling at his phone as he reads texts to himself; there's the young boy and his mother sharing our table and driving back and forth from home because they're washer just broke; there's the guy with the dreads a little high at the front waiting ever so... whatever for his clothes to be done; there's the woman who runs the show, walking this way and that, making all of it run like clock-work and keeping the machine oiled, if you will. She's prepared, she's responsive and she's ever so efficient - she knows her loads and she knows her times... she was my saving grace. From the moment I walked in the door, she had me pegged for a laundromat fledgling - and quite honestly, I'm saddened by that label after spending an evening with them.

These people are a community. They bear each others burdens and ask about the things of life that we seem to need a pen and paper for come the end of Small Group... they think about it during the week and because they are around each other day in and day out doing the daily grind, they are up to speed on one another's joys and one another's sorrows. They are what I imagine a community looking like... and when I can, I will have my children spend more time there.

Hey kids, THIS is what community looks like.

Thank you Bubbles Laundry - you are a home away from home.  We'll pee on more comforters if it means we get to see you.