Good
morning friends. Another beautiful day here in Maryland. The air is so
clean and fresh that I'm actually tempted to do a load of laundry just
to hang it out to dry! Now there's a memory from the past. There was
actually a time when the job of doing laundry was a little more detailed
than grabbing wet clothes from one big stainless tub and moving them to
another heated one.
If I close my eyes, I can still see my Mom's cute little clothes pin bag sliding down that clothes lines as she hung out each piece of laundry to dry. It was made out of denim and she made it by sewing together the bottom of one of my Dad's old work shirts. I can remember sitting there on the ground, next to the laundry basket, watching her hang out a load of wet laundry at record speed. I can still hear the sheets snapping in the wind as they dried all day in the warm sun.
I remember it was my job to find the socks that matched in the basket and then hand them up to her so she could pin them together on the line. I took that job pretty seriously and couldn't wait til I could hang them on the line myself one day. We would make several trips out to the yard to hang clothes until all the lines were full, but the best was yet to come.
Just before supper time, we would head out to bring it all in. I can still remember how good those clothes smelled. There are some things you just never forget. There is no other smell like fresh laundry that has been hanging outside to dry all day. We would sit at the table and fold each piece, sometimes smelling it one more time before we put it in the basket.
A simple life. Although it was pretty tough back then to raise a family and take care of a home and keep your kids feeling loved and safe, I actually think it's even harder today. People don't have the time to spend with their families as they juggle schedules and try to fit so much in. I often wonder what kids today will remember when they are older. Will it be sitting down with their family at dinner and talking about the events of the day? Or will it be a memory of sitting in the back of the car while Mom drove through McDonalds?
Will they remember the quality time spent doing the simple basic things in life while learning valuable lessons? Or will it be about getting lectured for watching too much TV or too much texting on their iPhones? Will their memories be about those fun little day trips you shared? Or will they be about sitting in their rooms playing video games?
I love the fact that my Mom, while probably not even realizing it, taught me so much about life. She gave me such wonderful memories that have stayed with me all these years. She would probably be amazed at how much her life influenced mine and how it was just the simple things that mattered the most. My Mother didn't really teach me how to live. She lived and let me watch her do it. A lesson we should all learn.
If I close my eyes, I can still see my Mom's cute little clothes pin bag sliding down that clothes lines as she hung out each piece of laundry to dry. It was made out of denim and she made it by sewing together the bottom of one of my Dad's old work shirts. I can remember sitting there on the ground, next to the laundry basket, watching her hang out a load of wet laundry at record speed. I can still hear the sheets snapping in the wind as they dried all day in the warm sun.
I remember it was my job to find the socks that matched in the basket and then hand them up to her so she could pin them together on the line. I took that job pretty seriously and couldn't wait til I could hang them on the line myself one day. We would make several trips out to the yard to hang clothes until all the lines were full, but the best was yet to come.
Just before supper time, we would head out to bring it all in. I can still remember how good those clothes smelled. There are some things you just never forget. There is no other smell like fresh laundry that has been hanging outside to dry all day. We would sit at the table and fold each piece, sometimes smelling it one more time before we put it in the basket.
A simple life. Although it was pretty tough back then to raise a family and take care of a home and keep your kids feeling loved and safe, I actually think it's even harder today. People don't have the time to spend with their families as they juggle schedules and try to fit so much in. I often wonder what kids today will remember when they are older. Will it be sitting down with their family at dinner and talking about the events of the day? Or will it be a memory of sitting in the back of the car while Mom drove through McDonalds?
Will they remember the quality time spent doing the simple basic things in life while learning valuable lessons? Or will it be about getting lectured for watching too much TV or too much texting on their iPhones? Will their memories be about those fun little day trips you shared? Or will they be about sitting in their rooms playing video games?
I love the fact that my Mom, while probably not even realizing it, taught me so much about life. She gave me such wonderful memories that have stayed with me all these years. She would probably be amazed at how much her life influenced mine and how it was just the simple things that mattered the most. My Mother didn't really teach me how to live. She lived and let me watch her do it. A lesson we should all learn.
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