Conscientiousness

Tonight, Ian put a load of his clothes into the washing machine for tomorrow morning.  I told him I'd start it for him, but first I went through the laundry, checking the pockets for any residual knickknacks that  a boy might forget to remove before starting a load of laundry.

I was very moved by Ian's spontaneous outburst of gratitude for this extra bit of effort I was making:

"Thank you for checking through the pockets - I really appreciate that."

I was impressed that a ten-year-old should be so concerned about ensuring that some popsicle stick doesn't break the washer, and so appreciative that I stepped in and took on his responsibility for him.  Then he elaborated:

"I once lost my rare Celebi card in the washing machine."

It turned out that he was primarily concerned not about some old washing-machine that we've already had for about five years, but about a collector's-item Pokemon card that would look very much less appealing if it were to undergo such a rigorous ablution.

(July 9, 2014)