Summary of Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life - Book Summary (2016)

Part II. COMMITTING

Chapter 13. Airing Our Dirty Laundry

Recently as I was walking up and down the grocery aisles, I noticed a distinct, mildewed, putrid odor in the air. I looked around for the responsible party, until I discovered that she was me. I stank.

When I got home, Craig came out of the house to help me with the groceries and I said, “Honey, smell me. I stink.”

Craig sniffed my shirt and said without surprise, “Yes, you do.”

And I said, “Well, what IS that? It’s disgusting.”

And Craig said the following: “It’s mildew. All our clothes smell like that. We always stink.”

I’ll just give you a few seconds to digest that information. I know I needed a little time.

“What? Well why didn’t you tell me, husband?”

“I was scared to tell you. You get sensitive about … housekeeping stuff.”

“Oh. So allow me to clarify. You’d rather reek all day at work and allow Chase to be the stinky kid in class than risk me getting mad?”

“Yes. Yes, I would. Definitely.”

I left the groceries on the counter and immediately drove back to the store to buy some fancy detergent, the kind that costs more than five dollars. I smelled them all until I found one that reminded me of flowers and every popular girl I’d ever met. Then I came back home and started washing each Old Navy T-shirt, Dora the Explorer panty, and pair of yoga pants in the house.

I learned two very important things that day, and I’d like to share them with you, just in case you are in the Laundry and Wife Remedial Classes, like I am.

#1. This is, apparently, how laundry works: say your laundry day is Wednesday. You cannot put the laundry in the washer on one Wednesday and then wait to put it in the dryer until the following Wednesday. You must finish it all on the SAME Wednesday. It’s unfair but true. If you don’t, your family will smell like dead mice.

#2. You must be sweeter to your husband so he is not afraid to tell you that your entire family reeks.

Housekeeping and marriage are complicated.