I ruminate a lot.  I’m pretty sure this isn’t a good thing.

One definition of “to ruminate” is “to think deeply.”  But another definition is “to chew one’s cud.” I think a lot of my ruminations fall into the latter.  The “chew your cud” category.

My mind is a lot like the front-loading dryer we have downstairs.  You stuff it with ideas – or in the case of the dryer, wet clothes – and you hit “spin.”  And off it goes!

 All those things – ideas, worries, plans, thoughts, concerns, mysteries, relationships – all tossing around my head like a mess of socks, underwear, t-shirts, jeans, and the occasional pair of Tom’s shoes. ‘Round and ‘round and ‘round.  There’s the whirring and modestly rhythmic sound of buttons and zippers clicking and clacking.  Then the occasional “clunk” and “thud” of those Tom’s shoes.  Bedump! Bedump! Bedump!

And then something happens.  I forget for a moment.  I go upstairs to watch a football game.  Maybe go for a run.  Take a nap. Have a meal.  A glass of wine.  Maybe two.

But eventually I find myself back at the downstairs front-loading dryer.  I see that the clothes have stopped spinning.  They’ve been sitting there for awhile actually.  An afternoon?  A day? A week? So I pull out a polo shirt.  And I realize that it is one crumpled, wrinkled mess. Hideous.  I can’t wear that! I can’t even fold it up.

So I do what any other person too lazy to iron clothes will do.

I turn on the dryer again.  And back they go.  All those things I think about.  Ideas, worries, plans, thoughts, concerns, mysteries, relationships.

‘Round and ‘round and ‘round.  Bedump! Bedump! Bedump!