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When the Disposable Diaper Took a Wash
(45 seconds) The taking up of the cross is not always going to be something heroic or dramatic or enviable. And the catastrophe is not having the patience to enjoy it while you can.
Emily Ross
September 05, 2025
For parents of young children, the taking up of the cross is not always going to be something heroic or dramatic or enviable. It’s more often going to be a daily practice of acceptance of small duties which you don’t really like.
When I put a diaper through the washing machine, I know I’m close to hitting rock bottom.
Do you know what happens when a disposable diaper — a product designed to absorb water and hold it without leaking — goes through the washing machine? It must roll around in there determined to stand up to the advertisement on the side of the box: “Up to 12 hours leak-free!” I don’t know what 12 hours of pee is, but it is less than what’s in the regular cycle of laundry I’m just trying to finish before anyone notices I’m hiding in the laundry room alone.
And can we talk about the 12 hours?! I don’t know a single child that wouldn’t 1. Cry. Like, a lot of crying. And probably after 2-3 hours of sitting in a wet diaper — not 12 hours. And 2. Get one hell of a diaper rash. Might as well have just gone naked for all the time and energy and money you’re going to spend cleaning up that 12-hour diaper rash.
Anyway, so back to my laundry. Shiiii-shh. I don’t finish the word. Like I said, I’m trying not to attract attention. These little water-absorbing, diaper fluffs — fluffs? — are everywhere. I shake out the clothes one by one before chucking them into the dryer. Fluffs flutter to the floor now. The dog has noticed I’m not busy and begins whining at the back door behind me. She, too, knows, even in her little doggy brain, that I am losing my marbles. She wants to get outside before it gets any worse.
And it does get worse.
I accidentally knee the dog in the rib in pursuit of the youngest toddler, who just colored the bottom of her feet blue and is running around the house, leaving little blue foot prints everywhere. At least the baby is still asleep. I’m rushing to stop the next catastrophe and my kids are having the time of their lives. I realize in this moment that the true tragedy is that I want to stop the fun so I don’t have to clean it up because I don’t have the patience to join them.
“Time for showers!” I scream. Today, I think, my cross is leaving the laundry and blue footprints to dry.
Emily
Have more time? Read this story about how God blessed a mother for baking bread in 1 Kings 17.
