Laundry

     Well today is Monday and of course I have a ton of laundry to be done. I looked at the pile of towels waiting and the hamper overflowing and for a minute I started to feel sorry for myself. I looked at all that 'work' and I thought 'oh I would love to see the end of laundry'. Well I say that I thought that for a minute but actually I don't think it was even that long because almost immediately I was reminded of a conversation I had with my Nanny Stephens many, many years ago.
     My aunts were sitting in the kitchen, sipping tea and complaining about the things women complain about when they get together: housework, children and husbands, not necessarily in that order. Well the subject of laundry came up and for a long time Nanny just listened to my oldest aunt complain about how much work doing laundry was for her. Granted she did have five children and a husband who came home every night covered in fish scales and she was a neat freak so put all that together and I am sure her laundry woes were more than mine are now.
     After listening for awhile my Nanny said something like this: "I don't understand women of today complaining about doing laundry. All you have to do is sort it, throw it in a machine, let the machine do the work for you, take it out put it in another machine to dry it, fold it and put it away. When I was a young woman to do laundry I had to first haul the water in a bucket up a hill from the well until I had enough water. Then I had to build a good fire in the stove and bring the water to a boil. Then I was ready to do my laundry. I had to scrub the clothes one piece at a time on the scrub board with old rough soap, sometimes until my fingers would split open and bleed. Then I had to either hang them on the line outside or if it was raining I would string up lines inside in the kitchen to dry the clothes. Sometimes it would take two days to dry them. Then I would fold them and put them away."
     I never forgot that conversation. It took the starch out of my aunt's blustering and everyone in the room realized that they had nothing to complain about. Nanny never complained and her lot in life was much harder than any of us would ever see. She was a wise woman and her lessons continue to teach me even now.