It is funny or perhaps strange would be better word for remembering a current task, and how differently it was performed years ago. For me, this just happened. I am currently doing a couple of loads of laundry. When I was removing the clothes from the dryer it suddenly dawned on me “how lucky I was” to have my own washer and dryer in the house. When I was growing up, there were times when we would take our clothes to the local laundromat. We would carry bag upon bag inside, and then would fill up as many of the empty machines, as were required. I could even see the dirty tiled floor (it had been raining that day). Smell that clean clothes scent. Feel the heat from the dryer as we folded the warm clothing, towels and bedding. Oh, the static electricity. Not my favourite thing. I could actually see in my mind’s eye the clothes, as I was folding them. It was the strangest feeling. I remember that I was so HAPPY to have clean dry clothes. One great thing about going to the laundromat was you could do so many loads all at once. At home, it took all day to wash clothes.
This gave me the oddest feeling. To remember in such detail is amazing. Visualizing things is work for me. I want to do it, but my wandering mind and insistent thoughts cloud the pictures. But NOT this time. How great. I feel like I made a major breakthrough. LOL
Now this probably would seem crazy to most people. The fact that I was happy to be washing and drying clothes in a laundromat. But when I was a little girl growing up on the farm, all we had was a wringer washing machine. I was about 7 or 8 when I started using that machine. It was hard work. The clothes were washed in the machine but before you rinsed them they had to be put through the wringer to remove the excess water. This task not only took some ingenuity but was dangerous as well. You had to be so careful that you did not accidentally get your hand, shirt sleeve or arm caught in the wringer. One of my younger brothers actually put his arm through the machine when our attention had been averted. VERY SCARY. We had an outdoor clothes line as did most people of that era (1960’s). But at some point, I think it was after we had been in the new house on the farm for awhile, (the one that my Dad built), he bought a gas dryer. That was great. It was wonderful in the wintertime as we didn’t have to hang up the clothes outside. They always froze of course, so then you would spend hours getting them dried, and then ironing everything. We (being me, most of the time) even ironed the towels and sheets. Okay, that is another story.
So as you can see to have this amazing luxury is a big deal for me. I have over the years thought about it. I mean up until I moved into this house, I did not have my own washer and dryer. In the apartment building there were machines which were shared between 24 different tenants. But even then …… I was a happy girl. Walking down the hall is a far cry from standing on the porch and hanging out sheets to dry when it was bitterly cold.
So, I wonder how many people my age (53) can remember doing laundry the old fashioned way!! Hey, my grandma Stella even had an old wash board (I remember her using it from time to time).
For all those reasons above, I am eternally grateful. Sometimes those jobs from the past not only bring back interesting memories, and food for stories, but are good for the character, as well. So the wringer washer replaced the wash board and so on and so forth. Here we are today. At some point, I am sure that we will stand inside a shower like unit, and something will clean our clothes without us even removing them. Kind of like the sonic shower in the Star Trek shows. Not sure about how that would work with bedding and towels but I am sure they will work that all out.
Interesting, hey. So take a few minutes and think back to your childhood and how you did some task. Compare it to today.
Always, Carol
Guess, Alvin needs me…..
My New Life @ 51 