Dear Reader,
My husband answered the phone and after he hung up he announced, "Company's coming!"
'What to do? How do I act? Maybe I better change my clothes?' I'd never been so nervous in my life about company coming. But in my defense, because of the pandemic, it had been five months since anyone other than me, my husband, and our five cats, Cooper, Natie, Barry, Mama and Claire had set foot in our house.
"I'll wash up the dishes. You wipe off the kitchen counters," I told my husband. "Maybe we should bake our guests some chocolate chip cookies? Do we have time before they get here? I have some ingredients pre-measured, turn the oven on to 375 degrees and I'll start mixing."
How are my husband and I handling the stress of the pandemic? Apparently not as calmly as we tell folks, because two people we'd never met before, and most likely would never ever see again, were on their way to our house to deliver a new washer and dryer, but my husband and I were acting like we'd forgotten about the 150 party invitations we'd sent out and the guests were on their way.
We had no choice about ordering a new washer and dryer. Our appliances made that decision for us. Our washing machine decided to go on strike and it started depositing little brown specks on everything. And our dryer decided, "if 'she's' on strike, I'm not crossing the picket line." So now instead of 30 minutes, two hours went by before I could fold and put away one single load of towels. Yes, clearly, my washer/dryer duel was announcing, "We're on strike!"
Okay, I admit they've done a great job for the last 15 years, but how could they do this to us in the middle of a pandemic? I tried reaching an agreement with Washer and Dryer, but their demands were a little absurd. They wanted personal days and they were demanding an advance schedule of when I'd be doing the laundry. Dryer said it couldn't pump out as much heat, because it hadn't had a vacation in 15 years! (What did I expect? I guess everyone, even dryers, need to sit by the pool and sip a pina colada.)
Our two delivery guys did their work quickly. Out with the old, in with the new, and 20 minutes later my husband and I (a little sad to see company go), were standing on our porch, wearing our masks, waving good-bye, and with southern hospitality, calling out, "Ya'll come back again now--please!"
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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