It was a rainy Saturday morning and I was procrastinating a trip to the laundromat as much as I could. I started whistling the tune to 'The Andy Griffith' show because I was running out of procrastination ideas. I seriously pondered soaking my clothes with Febreeze and throwing them off my front porch. But, I finally manned up and headed to the laundromat. I chose the Mega Super Wash that could handle a 65lb load. It was a Speed Queen machine, so you know it's good. I love how they label everything with such an awesome word so you think that everything about the place is just amazing. The Mega Super Speed Queen Machine. Of course I'm going to use something with that kind of a name. The most interesting man in the world who does the 'Dos Equis' advertisement must be the one coming up with the names for this place.
'If that was a humans name I would definitely never mess with that guy/girl. If I was about to get into a fight with somebody and they told me their name was Mega Super Speed Queen Machine...I would pee my pants.
So, I load my clothes into the Mega Super Speed Queen Machine at the Super Spin City Laundromat and then I wait for half an hour. There are not many things to do at the laundromat. I usually listen to my iPod but I forgot my headphones this time. So, I can grab a snack from the Superb Snack Machine or I can play a game at AwesomeO's Arcade Section (even though 1 out of their 5 arcade games work, and that's the one that always steals your quarters). Or, my last option is to people watch. People watching is an acquired skill. It's an art, of sorts, to pull it off successfully. 1st rule of people watching: there is no people watching. 2nd: You can never make eye contact with someone. If they make eye contact with you then you're ruined, just get out of there. 3rd: You can't look at the same person for more then a minute. You have to be sporadic, switch between people every 30 seconds or so. 4th: Have a book or newspaper in front of you so it looks like you're doing something else. If someone looks your way then you can quickly shift your eyes to your book before eye contact is made.
I decided to people watch. There weren't many interesting people here today. One was reading the newspaper, another was blank staring into the unknown, and a couple were arguing in Spanish. If I spoke Spanish that may have been my best target. But, a lady and her 5 year old son came in. She got her laundry sorted and got it into the machines. Her son was sitting quietly, waiting for his mother to finish. Soon, she opened her purse and pulled out a couple toys for him. His eyes lit up like he had just discovered life on Mars. Right now, playing with his blue race car was the best thing on earth. I Imagine finding that kind of joy in something so small, something that everyone else would over look. The boy races up and down the aisles of washing machines, making engine noises.
"Vroom vrooom, vrrrrrrrr, errrrrrrrr, pffffff," I hear him say. He couldn't stop in time and crashed into a gas tanker and everything exploded. But, luckily it's imagination so the car is instantly repaired and everything is OK.
"Vrooom, vrooom, vrrrrrrrr. I'm gonna win, I'm gonna win!" he says excitedly. He's so happy. He is in a smelly laundromat on a Saturday morning with a pile full of dirty clothes. He could be at home sleeping, or playing with friends, or watching cartoons. But, no, he is here, playing at a laundromat and he is the happiest kid alive.
Time go's by and soon the kid becomes comfortable with exploring all the edges of the laundromat. He comes to where I'm sitting, hits the floor, and starts racing his car around again. I just smile. His mother looks over and I smile and politely wave. She smiles back. The boy winds his arm back and then shoots it forward releasing the race car, sending it speeding along the ground until it crashes into my feet.
"Pffffffff!!" the boy screams when the car hits my feet. It must have exploded again. The mother sees the fiery crash and is about to get up and come get the boy so he doesn't disturb me. I get up quickly, smile, and tell the mother it's OK. I grab the car, sit down on the floor, and spring the race car towards the boy. He catches it and then looks up at me smiling bigger then any smile I'd ever seen. The mother looks at me, smiles, then sits back down.
"Vroom, Vroom, vrrrrr!!" the boy sends the car racing back to me. He's laughing his heart out. I played race car for another 5 minutes or so before my washing machine beeped. I smiled at the boy.
"I'll be right back," I said. He got up and followed me to my washing machine. He was racing his car all the way there. He was driving on the side of the machine's, jumping over every space between them. I started dumping my clothes into the basket to wheel over to the dryer. He reached his hand into the washing machine, pulled out a sock and threw it into the basket. I smiled and thanked him. We got all the clothes out and he took control of the basket on wheels. He pushed it over to the dryer and picked one out. These dryers were stacked two high. Me, being tall, I would have chosen the one on top. But, the boy chose one of the bottom ones. I couldn't say no. He opened it up and we started loading the machine. I was so dumbfounded by the situation, I didn't realize that this was some strange kid I've never met and he was helping me do my laundry. The mother must be freaking out. I looked over at her, she just smiled, probably thinking to herself that I was either mentally handicapped or I was just a nice guy. But, she showed no signs of disapproval, so the boy and I kept loading the machine. We got it loaded then the boy stuck his hand out at me. I was confused for a moment, but then I handed him some quarters. He put them in the machine and then I pressed start. He grabbed the edge of my shirt and pulled me over to the sitting area. He dropped to the floor excitedly.
"Vroom, Vrooom!" The race was back on. I sat down across from him as he sent the car flying towards me. It crashed into my leg.
"Pffffwww!!" he shouted laughingly. This was probably the most fun I've had in years.
"Vrruuummm, vrrummm, vroooooooooo," I said, turning it into a muscle car. I sent it flying back towards the boy.
"Oh no!" he shouted as the car flew past him. "It's getting away!"
We played for a little while longer. Eventually his mother called him over to come have a snack. I wondered what the snack was for today, then I realized that I'm a 21 year old, 6 foot 4 inch man. She will probably not give me a snack...bummer. My clothes were finished so I packed them up. The boy came over wanting to play again.
"Sorry bud, I gotta go home now," I explained. He was bummed but said OK. The mother came over saying, "Thanks for playing with him."
"Oh no problem, it was fun, he's a great kid. What's his name?" I asked
"Daniel," she replied.
"Well Daniel, it was nice to meet you. You behave OK."
"OK," he mumbled. Then he ran off and started playing again. I smiled, said goodbye to the mother, and left.
I found joy in the one place, doing the one thing that I hated most. I was so caught up in being a grown up and worrying about grown up things that I forgot how much fun it was being a kid. I was so focused on not liking something that I made it completely miserable for myself. I am so happy that I was given the chance to look at something through the eyes of a 5 year old today. Imagine if I did that every day with everything. Every day would be new and exciting. Every place I go would be an undiscovered mystery. Every corner of a room would be an adventure. I would never stop learning, never stop exploring, never stop believing. Imagine if my faith was like that. If every day I was completely excited to live for God and explore everything He has in store for me. Every day I was overjoyed to learn more about Him and serve Him with unfailing excitement. Imagine if I had faith like a child.
Don't ever lose your imagination and don't ever let your faith get boring. Find the joy you once had when you were five. Be excited that you serve the one sovereign God. Have faith like a child.
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