Grownup Joy

Growing up, we never had a dishwasher. When I bought my first house, we didn’t have a dishwasher until we remodeled our kitchen, right before our first daughter was born. I never thought much about the dishwasher. It certainly saves time, just shove everything in that you can and then put it all away when it was clean. The putting away part is actually my least favorite chore, especially the silverware. I find it really annoying to sort the different utensils. I have tried to organize it as I load it into the dishwasher but I never stick with the system. I inevitable toss a whole handful in at once. I’ve tried pretending this job is great fun, to try and coax my kids into wanting the job. There is no fooling them. They despise that job as much as I do.

I can’t remember exactly when our dishwasher began acting up. At first, it took some work to get the “wash” button to push. Sometimes, I’d walk away with a sore thumb, trying to get it to turn on. Probably a few months later, I realized that the “One Hour Delay” button wasn’t as faulty as the “wash” button. If I just delayed the cycle, no need to hurt my thumb. So that’s how I’ve managed to get my dishes washed for, probably, the last two years-on a one hour delay.

Last week, I noticed a piece of plastic laying across the bottom of the dishwasher. I tried to stick it back in the place it appeared to come from. No luck. It didn’t look that important. I snapped a picture and texted it to my dad. “Do you think I need this?”

He replied that he thought it was time for a new dishwasher.

That weekend, I picked my dad up to go dishwasher shopping. He had already researched all the top brands and had called me several times to discuss my options. He’s always good at helping to do a little research before a major purchase. “Sounds good,” I told him each time.

When we got to Home Depot, my dad led me right to his top two picks. He showed me their top features. “This one has a special third rack, just for silverware. That will give you more room on the bottom,” he pointed out. The other choice didn’t have this feature. He seemed pretty jazzed about that silverware upgrade. He also talked about things like power and customer reviews.

When he was done with his sales pitch, he asked what I thought. “Whatever you think, Dad. I trust you.”

Naturally, we bought the dishwasher with the special rack just for silverware. I was skeptical. How would I get the utensils from the dishwasher to the drawer without the caddy I was use to?

About a week later, after the new machine was delivered, my Dad went over to our house, while we were at work, to hook everything up. He had already removed our old dishwasher and I was relieved. I had grown pretty tired of washing dishes…you should see our sink when everyone’s lunchboxes get emptied after school!

That night, as I sat rocking Rose to sleep, my dad called to see what I thought of the dishwasher. “Looks good,” I said. “Thanks for getting it in.”

“Did you run it?” he asked.

“Not yet, Dad. Still waiting to get it all filled up.”

“You can run it before it’s full you know,” he said.

“I know. But then that would mean I need to empty it,” I replied. I tend to wait until I really can’t fit another thing in before running the dishwasher. No need to get too crazy with too many washes!

“Oh,” he said. He sounded like he was unsure why I wasn’t more excited about the new dishwasher.

Yesterday, I finally ran the dishwasher.

It was slightly exhilarating to have the cycle begin right when I pushed the “wash” button. I had forgotten what that felt like.

This morning, I opened the dishwasher to do my first unload. At first, I was struck by how clean everything was. I think I may have witnessed a twinkle coming from my glasses, the kind you see on commercials. Perhaps there was more wrong with my last dishwasher than I realized!

When it came time to unload the silverware, I pulled out the skinny top rack. I was quickly able to scoop up the knives, then forks, then spoons. So much easier than the jumbled silverware in my old dishwasher. Maybe my dad had been right to be so into that feature.

Today, my new kitchen appliance brought me joy- a joy I didn’t know I was looking for. I might be more like my dad than I realized.