YESTERDAY’S WASH DAYS

The way we do this frequent task
has changed greatly over the years.
It has gone from hot and steamy labour, to
what we now find is a breeze
but still manage to complain about.
Back then, wash day started very early
with huge containers of water being heated on
the top of our old black kitchen stove with
the reservoir on the side. The water in
there, being used for washing dishes.
Mom used a scrub board and a large bar of
Sunlight Soap, and every time
she washed the clothing for nine of us,
the ninth being my grandmother, who lived in
another part of the house and my mom
looked after her.
I don’t know how you found the strength
and you had the whitest wash on our street.
I learned from watching you that God is always with us
because I feel He was the one who made it possible
to complete your tasks, right along with Our
Blessed Mother.
Starting with the whites, you scrubbed and sloshed
your way through a virtual mountain of laundry, then
there was the washing, wringing, rinsing, wringing,
carrying the heavy wet clothes out to the line,
hang it all up, it dries, then take it all down,
sprinkle and iron with those old flat irons
you had to heat on the wood stove.
That of course was just the laundry, there were
many other jobs to be done. I can only imagine
the times you must have wept for need of a rest.
Out behind the house there was an old relic
of a wooden washing machine.
I believe it was my grandmothers.
It had a lever on the lid, and when you worked
the lever a piece in it’s center would gyrate,
thus cleaning the clothes, at least it did once.
At that point in time, it was long past its prime,
though I imagine a museum would have loved to get
their hands on it.
To this day, I enjoy watching the clothing being
blown about and snapping in the breeze. I acquired
this love from my mother as she used to mention it every time..
Wash day generated other jobs, like replacing missing buttons,
split seams and darning socks.
When I think of the love that filled your heart
to overflowing day in and day out, I knew that on this
earth, there was nothing that could defeat it.
I don’t think mom ever read the Bible, but
she surely lived it. Thanks mom for keeping
us clean and presentable all those years ago.

Your loving daughter,
Margaret Rose Larrivee
Apr. 19, 2007