Laundry With a Side of Tahitian Treat

 
I enjoy doing the laundry...

I know, that sounds crazy...

there's just something about

 taking something dirty and smelly

 and making it clean and fresh. 

There's a rhythm to laundry that brings me peace. 

Over the years I've gathered an arsenal of products

  to win the war on stains...

But I think the thing I like best about doing laundry

 is Tahitian Treat soda...

Let me explain...

  When I was a girl I grew up in a home with a working washer and dryer. The only problem was no one used it on a regular basis. No, I was not raised by wolves...just two very busy parents of six kids working hard to make ends meet. My parents loved all six of us and we all knew it, but they worked so hard outside the home, when they got home there was very little time and energy left for running a house.The laundry was always in huge piles and clothes were usually washed on an as-needed basis. But every month or so my parents would decide it was time to catch-up on the the laundry.

  By the time I turned 11 it became my job to tackle the laundry mountain. About once a month or so I would be dropped off at a coin laundromat with 8 or 9 large garbage bags full of dirty laundry and a couple of rolls of coins. My job would be to spend the day washing, drying, and folding huge piles of laundry. You might think it was a punishment, but to the contrary, I preferred that job to whatever monthly cleaning project was going on at home.
 Of course those were the days before handheld video games, Kindles and cell phones, but I enjoyed my time away from the house full of brothers and sisters. I read paperbacks, worked word search puzzles, read old issues of Reader's Digest, and began a lifelong hobby of people watching. On any one of those Saturdays I might be dropped off at 10 am and finally get done with all the laundry by 3 or 4 in the afternoon. There was something so satisfying as high piles of towels, underwear, shirts, and jeans would tower on the folding tables. With every bag I refilled with folded clean clothes I felt a sense of accomplishment at a job well done.

  Imagine how other customers felt when they walked in to find all the machines full! But in reality I rarely got to the machines first so I'd have to wait until one was empty and snag a machine. A couple of years into my laundry experience a bright shiny new laundromat was built a few miles away. The new one had rows and rows of huge triple-size machines and cut down the amount of time I was spent doing laundry. Doing the laundry held much less excitement for me when the new machines came along.
  I don't think any of my brothers or sisters envied my days at the laundromat, but that was okay...as a middle child I relished the time away. One of my favorite memories of Saturdays at the laundromat was using some of the coins to buy myself a candy bar and a cup of Tahitian Treat soda pop. The laundromat had a really nifty vending machine that would automatically drop a paper cup down into a holder, then drop in some crushed ice, and a mixture of syrup and water ~ It was a bright red fizzy fruit punch. It tasted soooo good on those long hot days. Honestly, I'm sure I helped myself to more than one cup of that wonderful stuff. It had a lot of fizz and the sweetness of the soda along with the texture of the crushed ice made it the perfect pleasure.

  Recently I found Tahitian Treat in 2-liter bottles at my local grocery store. I bought a bottle and found it tastes just as I remember it. I like to pour it in a glass with crushed ice...it takes me right back to those days when doing the laundry actually felt like an escape. I think I know why I really like doing the laundry (it's not really an OCD thing)...somehow it feels like a treat!