Minnesota is covered in a giant mass of clouds today which prevents me from hanging clothes outside to dry in the spring breeze. My motivation to wash clothes today is low for this reason.
It is a fond memory of my childhood to recall the times when my brother, sister and I would run through the freshly laundered clothes that my mother would hang on the clothesline. I’m sure we enjoyed it much more than she since our hands were rarely clean as we played outside, but there is a specialness associated with the recollection. I knew, even as a little girl, that my mom was going to special lengths to care for her family by making our clothes smell so wonderful.
Clotheslines also tell a story of the family using them. A new arrival of a baby means that cloth diapers may be flapping in the wind along with a long line of tiny clothes. A soldier home from duty will have his or her military fatigues drying in the sunshine. Is the flu going around? Expect to see sheets and blankets hung out in mass quantities.
Nowadays we have the convenience of state-of-the-art clothes driers that dry at lightening fast speed and many people live in cities where there is simply no room to hang clothes outside to dry. It’s a shame to not be able to choose such a simple pleasure.
The moment the weather clears, my clothesline will tell the story of five boys, two girls and a husband and wife who are extremely blessed to live in the country.
We have the stains to prove it.
