I am waging a battle ..... a battle that I feel I may never win.  It may sound strange but my battle is against sparkles.

Actually I brought about my own grief by forming a bad habit years ago when my children were small and I was working full time, which meant that time for cleaning, laundry, etc, was in short supply.  My bad habit has to do with the dreaded chore of doing the laundry.  Those dirty clothes can certainly pile up to the ceiling almost in the blink of an eye, crying out to be washed.

I found that you can be finished with this messy business in half the time if you just throw everything in the washer together .... whites ..... darks .... makes no difference.  Just make sure you push the cold water button.  Nothing fades, nothing shrinks, all is right with your world.  Usually!

This past New Year's Eve, I donned a nice sparkly purple top that dressed up my plain black slacks nicely.  I welcomed 2010 with my sweetie and my friends.  All was well.  That is, all was well until laundry day rolled around.

The pretty, festive, sparkly purple top needed some attention.  So, as has been my habit, in it went with the rest of the clothing to be washed.  No problem, right?  Wrong!

Who would have ever guessed that 'sparkles' actually jump from article to article, either while sloshing around in the washer or tumbling around in the dryer?  Who would have ever guessed those pretty sparkles could come off that pretty purple top and attach themselves to everything else?

I now have sparkly sheets, sparkly pillow cases, sparkly socks, sparkly jeans, sparkly towels and even sparkly wash cloths.  But, the most interesting sparkle is my underwear, which now has sparkles inside and out.  And, of course, this means they transfer to my body in the most personal places.

For many months, perhaps years, I may need to make sure I sleep in a nightgown that covers me from my neck to my toes so the bright lights from the sparkles don't keep me awake.

Oh, and by the way, what happens when my sweety sleeps on these sparkly sheets?  Well I guess that's his own battle to wage.

PS.  As a follow up ................. this Sparkle story took place just after New Year's Eve.  It is now April.  I was sitting in the doctor's waiting room with my sweetie yesterday afternoon.  We had been waiting for quite some time and I was getting impatient when I crossed my legs, trying to get more comfortable in those impossible chairs that all doctors seem to have in their waiting rooms....... That's when I noticed that stuck on my leg, just above my ankle, was a SPARKLE.  I nudged my sweetie, pointed to my leg and we both burst out laughing.  A little sparkle can certainly brighten one's day!

                      © copyright Donna Hale Chandler