Memory

Last weekend as we were driving towards Cooperstown, New York we came up over a hill and off to the right was a small farmhouse with a clothes line full of freshly hung laundry blowing in the wind.  I have kicked myself because I didn't pull over and take a picture of it.  That brief view brought so many memories flooding back into my mind.  A clothes line is a marvelous thing and much can be learned from the whole concept of hanging clothes out to dry.  My mother never had one until after I was married and my brothers bought one for her.  It actually stayed boxed up for quite a while because my dad didn't think it was necessary (needless to say he never did a lick of laundry in his life!).  I got my first dryer when we moved to Victorville when Amy was two.  Not because Scott didn't think I needed one--we just couldn't afford one before then.  I smile to think about how many diapers I hung out on the clothesline since disposable diapers were just starting to be used at that time (and we couldn't afford them either).

There is an art to hanging clothes and my mother taught me well.  She took great pride in how everything was hung and she taught me all of her tricks.  Underwear always went in middle for modesty with less personal items being hung around the outside of those.  Shirts were hung up side seam to side seam from the bottom of the shirt.  You always connected two items so that you didn't waste a clothespin.  Clothes were never thrown over the line they were carefully hung at the very edge of the item you were hanging.  The exception to that rule was sheets which were draped over the line so they wouldn't touch the ground or be pulled off by the wind.  Towels were hung by size meaning bath towels, hand towels, and wash rags.  When the clothes line was full of clothes I always thought it looks beautiful.  I still remember the wonderful feeling of a crisp sheet when I crawled into bed after laundry day.  I also loved the smell of a basket full of fresh dried clothes. Now I love the smell of Downy Fabric softener!  I have to admit I also liked towels dried in the dryer better than on the line.

Every clothes line in the neighborhood was put across the fence from the neighbors clothes line and my mom as well as many others used that time to catch up with their friends as they hung laundry or took it down. The clothes hanging also got me in a lot of trouble when I was about 8 or 9 years old.  My friend and I had been scolded by a grouchy lady who lived in a corner house by us. At that moment we began plotting our "revenge" which came down to a terrible decision.  She had hung her white sheets on the clothes line and we decided we would teach her not to scold us ever again by throwing handfuls of dirt all over her damp sheets. Needless to say we were caught, and to add insult to injury my friends mom used her fly swatter to spank her and then me!  Can you imagine.  I could take the punishment from my mom but didn't think she had the right to do that.  When I told my mom what had happened I expected her to go right across the alley to set that lady straight.  Didn't happen--instead she spanked me as well.  I was totally busted and learned an important lesson that I never forgot.  When you get punished once just pray that you mom doesn't find out because you will most likely get a second set of serious consequences!  Needless to say the sheets were rewashed by our moms and then folded up and returned.  We both stayed away from our grouchy neighbor from that day on.

The best memory will always be when my mom went to the clothes lines and began a conversation with our new neighbor who she eventually invited over for a cup of coffee.  She declined the coffee but instead brought a drink called "Postum".  Shortly after she came to visit, my dad came home early from work and sat down and began to visit with her as well.  One conversation lead to another and before the morning was over she offered to let my dad read the Book of Mormon and from that came stake missionaries.  As you have probably heard--the rest is history!