Laundry

I spent part of the weekend helping Catie do laundry. I could spend another weekend getting it caught up. She HATES doing laundry! I suppose part of that hatred is my fault. I used to fuss about laundry. When the kids were big enough to put their dirty clothes in a hamper, the rule was: not in a hamper, not getting washed! Don't tell me three days later that you need a certain shirt tomorrow. Wash day is Saturday! As they got older, clothes had to be in my sewing room, sorted, by 5pm Friday or they wouldn't get washed. I do laundry once a week. Period. The kids all wash clothes on an as needed basis. Drives me nuts!
Laundry is a part of my family history. When my grandfather died, three months before Ma was born, my grandmother had no real marketable skills. Add to that, she "weren't from around here". She was an Irish immigrant. To support her family during the depression, she "took in laundry". She had an old wringer washer and a clothes line. She would wash and hang out clothes, iron and fold them. If itwas cold or raining, the clothes were hung on the porch. When she got her first "automatic" washer and dryer, I'll bet she felt like she had died and gone to heaven!
Ma was funny about laundry, too. NOBODY touched her washer or dryer! Laundry was done on Saturday (as it was in my house....laundry day is hereditary!). Wash, dry, fold, iron. As we grew up, Kathy and I were allowed to help with the laundry, especially the fold and put away part! When she was 75 years old, with her left wrist in an external fixator, she was washing,starching, and ironing Bud and Russ' shirts. No matter how much I fussed (Let them do their own wash!), she continued doing their laundry. To this day, she just celebrated her 85th birthday, she's still washing, starching, ironing Bud's and Pop's shirts. I think she enjoys it.
I used to hate laundry. When we first got married, we had to take everything to the laundrymat.It was a chore! When we bought our house, I got a washer and dryer. Pure joy! Saturday was laundry day, as I explained above. I'm only washing for Dave and me now, with the occasional load of Chris' stuff. Chris is welcome to do his own laundry, provided that the washer and dryer are empty when I need them. Ironing is not something I do regularly. I believe that God gave us permanent press fabrics for a reason! I don't mind doing laundry anymore. It's a satisfying feeling to see the piles of dirty clothes become neatly folded stacks of clean clothes or a row of neatly hung shirts. Laundry day can be a day well spent.