Sorting Laundry was Never So Important

In Elisavietta Ritche's Sorting Laundry, there is great symbolic meaning.  This metaphor is shown at the very beginning, when the speaker says "Folding clothes, I think of folding you into my life," (Ritche, 841).  She uses the laundry to show that the couple has a good relationship.  They don't claim to be perfect, and they have their quirks.  But overall, they are very close and love each other greatly.  She soon stumbles upon a shirt she has kept from a past lover.  She thinks of her fear that her current relationship could become nothing more than a piece of laundry.  She fears that her love may leave her, and that obviously terrifies her.  She fears that sorting only her own laundry would not fulfill her.  She would be lonely and constantly reminded that the other side of the bed is empty.