I am so
grateful for the outpouring of love and support I’ve received from so
many. You are so kind. Sadly, there are those who feel my
announcement to the world of being bipolar through the ideal opportunity of an 8 Things You Might Not Know About Me Facebook
post is “airing dirty laundry”—something best kept private.
And to those
I say pish posh. You are looking through
dirty windows, my friends. (See the
fantastic video below.)
Mental
illness is NOT dirty laundry! But
while we’re on the subject, there are a few things I’ve come to know about dirty
laundry in the last nine years I’ve been washing it. (Thank you Mom for doing the first 17 years!)
1. Dirty laundry is a result of living.
And if you never have any laundry to
wash, you must be wearing the emperor’s new clothes in a world where everything
is spring meadow fresh. The dirtiest clothes
make for the best stories—like the time a service project turned into a mud fight,
or the time I ran the Dirty Dash, or the time I painted my living room Sweet
Honey Yellow. The same goes for life—truly
living makes for the best stories, even if those stories aren’t joyous. Even sad and difficult stories can have a
positive impact, which brings me to my next point.
2. Everyone seeks tips and tricks.
As we all do laundry, we share ideas of what works
to remove certain stains. Once in a
while we might be able to share what we’ve heard will make it better. More often, the best way we can help someone
remove those stains is to have worked through that stain ourselves. That is why it is so important to be open
about our struggles—we all need help with our laundry. When we were dealing with infertility, some
of my greatest support came from those who had experienced or were currently
experiencing the same longing. We each
had different details, but to some degree we knew what it was like to deal with
that laundry.
3. If we threw it all into a pile, we’d want
ours back.
My parents like to say that if everyone took all of
their problems and threw them into a pile so we could pick out something
different, we’d each run to the pile to get our own back. The grass stains are not always lighter on
the other side of the laundromat.
4. Everyone is so much more than their dirty
laundry.
What a sad world it would be if we
defined people by the spots on their clothes and the spots in their lives. Sure, one or two or three shirts may have a
spot, but look at all the rest of that person’s laundry! Look at the PERSON wearing that laundry. When
I worked at A&W in high school, I’m sure a lot of people could have seen me
in my uniform and said wow… look at that ice cream all over that girl’s apron,
or eww check out that grease stain, but I hope they realized I was more than a
fast food worker. The greater part of me
was a singer, a writer, an actress, a scholar, a volunteer—but what really defines
me is my soul. Souls are so much more
than spots or stains.
5. Dirty laundry is not going to stay that way
forever.
Somehow, someday that laundry is going to be clean
again. Maybe not right now, but
eventually, and through the grace of God those spots and stains will be
removed. How grateful I am.
