March 2024 Newsletter
Hello: Good day all!
I just sent a Faith Column to the Waconia Patriot. It is about my trip to the DMV. Today I am going to tell you about another trip I made this week: a trip to Suds America Laundromat and Tanning Salon. I was there for the dryer, not for the tanning bed. I have not been to a laundromat for a long time. Laundromats were a staple in England when I was studying abroad. I remember putting all my dirty clothes in a garbage bag and walking from Knightlow Road in Harborne (a neighborhood in Birmingham England) to the High Street with my Walkman on playing Paul Young’s “I’m Going to Tear Your Playhouse Down.”
So after 38 years I found myself back in the laundromat because my dryer will go around and around but is not kicking out any heat. The first thing I did was start plugging quarters into a commercial washer. It took me 33 quarters before I realized it was a washer and not a dryer. The nice lady behind the counter (they also do service washes), told me to push the button to get all the quarters back. When they didn’t come back, not one of them, the nice lady rattled some jars behind the counter and gave me all my quarters back. Then she confirmed that the big machines on the wall were the dryers. I thanked her profusely.
I threw in all my clothes, trying to look like I knew what I was doing. Then I sat down at the tables they had in front of the vending machines. The internet had told me that Suds America had video games. I don’t play them usually, but I had quarters...The only game I found, I didn’t understand. There were a bunch of quarters on two sliding levels with some folded 10-dollar bills set on top of them.
I bought a blue Powerade. I still had quarters. A person with braids and long fake green fingernails came and put some quarters in the sliding quarters game. As soon as they did, I jumped up and came over and asked how this worked. They explained it was just a way to pass time, but their mom had gotten them hooked on it and one time their mom had gotten the $10. You dropped quarters in with the hope that they would knock off the other quarters and maybe even a $10 bill. They put a few quarters in and had no luck, they left.
A few minutes later a couple quarters dropped. I jumped up looked around for the green fingernail person and didn’t see them. I took the quarters from the drop drawer and dropped them into the machine and added a couple of my own. Just then the person came back. I had stolen their quarters! I thought they had left. Just then a quarter dropped. They said, “Well done, that quarter is yours!” I took it and added one of my own and walked it over to them. I explained that two had dropped when they were gone. They thanked me, knowing for a moment I had stolen their winnings. They weren’t mad. I had done the right thing.
By this time my laundry was dry. As I left, I told my new friend to have a good one, they wished me the same. Between my adventures at the DMV (see Waconia Patriot March 7 th ) and Suds America, I have been so impressed with the kindness of strangers. Grateful to God for all the strangers who are invited to this party we call life!