Monday, December 28, 2009

My Magic Drawer


I have a magic drawer.  It's the top drawer of my dresser where I keep my underwear and socks.

If you didn't know any better it would appear like any other drawer.  And like most drawers, every day it slowly gets emptier and emptier.  But then, just before I am totally out of clean underwear, Violá!

Just like magic, it fills up again.  It's like I have a never ending supply of fresh, clean underwear.

For a long time now I have suspected the UndieElves who are known to replenish underwear drawers at night while you sleep.  Many nights I have tried to stay awake to catch them at their gleeful game but it seems I always fall asleep and miss the magical moment.

But I'm beginning to suspect that maybe there is another force afoot.  As I have been trying to hunt down the UndieElves I've also noticed there are even more abnormal anomalies around the house – like where I always hang my white church shirts.  (Try saying that five times real fast.  "Church shirts. Churchshirts. Churshirts. Churshurts. Churshursh.")  I think I only have three of them.  But I'm not so sure.  I'll wear one, then, at the end of the day, I'll put it in the laundry basket.  But when I go to get another one a day or so later, there are three again.

Sometimes I try to outsmart the UndieElves or the Church Shirt Cherubs by sneaking the contents of our laundry basket and putting them in the washing machine in the morning after I get back from the Rec Center.  Since I work at home I figure I can get them washed, folded and put away before Jana comes home from work.  But that usually doesn't work very well.

It seems I get a good start but then as I work my mind loses track of time and before I know it I go to change my clothes before going out for an evening meeting, look in my drawer for some socks to match my suit and there it is – my magic drawer is full again.  I rush to the closet and find three white shirts hanging quietly together.  I then run to the laundry room, realizing I have forgotten to finish the clothes and find the washer and dryer empty.

Obviously the UndiElves, the Church Shirt Cherubs or whatever magical powers that be, aren't confined to performing their magic at night.

What I do know is that my magic drawer is truly a loving thing; a loving thing done without fanfare, without ceremony and without solicitation.  I've even mentioned it to Jana.  "Jana, look! My magic drawer has been filled again!"  She usually just smiles.


In the meantime, I am still trying to outsmart those UndieElves by filling the washer when I notice my magic drawer getting low – and every once in awhile I actually succeed.  But I'm not very good at fooling Jana.  She always seems to notice: "Thank you for doing the laundry.  You didn't need to do that."

I guess she doesn't believe in UndieElves.

4 comments:

  1. I think your well-behaved UndiElves used to have some trickster cousins who vaporized socks at my house in years past. Apparently the naughty elves moved along when my kids moved out.

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  2. I think I must have had a SockSprite in my home growing up as well. I'd put two socks in the laundry basket but only get one back. I had a drawer full of single socks. My mom used to say they had gone into the Hose-zone, but now that I think of it, it must have been SockSprites.

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  3. "Hose-zone".....love that.

    Mine went into the Lonely Sock pile. Ever' once in a while a match was made - - - about as often as at a singles fireside. :o)

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  4. Wish I had a magic drawer... I see the bottom all too often. :)

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