The dishes wheel, late

The kitchen light was the only one still on. I’d just finished putting the kids to bed, and the usual hum of the day had finally quieted down. I wasn’t looking for anything special, just a short break from the routine before tackling the sink.

Spinning the wheel in the quiet

I pulled up the wheel on my phone, the screen glowing softly in the dim room. The options were simple, just the usual household tasks we all knew by heart. There was no fanfare, just a quiet tap to set it spinning.It landed on ‘load the dishwasher.’ Not a surprise, but not a chore I’d been dreading either. It felt like a neutral instruction, a small nudge from the universe to just get started. The sound of the water running was almost peaceful in the stillness.

Letting the task be the task

There’s something about doing dishes at night that’s different. The pressure to be productive is gone. You’re just putting things back in order, one plate at a time, so the morning starts clean.I didn’t try to make it fun or efficient. I just let my hands move through the warm, soapy water. The clink of glasses and the scrape of a sponge became the only sounds in the house. It was strangely grounding, just being there with the simple, physical work.

A small, quiet reset

By the time I wiped down the counters, the mental clutter of the day had rinsed away too. The wheel hadn’t given me a free pass, but it had given me a direction. And sometimes, that’s all you need to stop thinking and just do.