Our dryer recently gave out on us, and we suffered without it for 4 days until a new one was delivered. Wet clothes were hanging off of backs of chairs, stair banisters, basically every free surface that would provide air circulation. With two kids, we go through what seems like a massive amount of laundry.
Once again, I thought of what a remarkable amount of work Mom did (with no thanks and very little appreciation) every single day. I suppose most women of her generation did the same. How did they do it without going crazy?
With 3 boys, a messy daughter and a husband who came home from digging ditches and working with greasy pipes, laundry was a huge chore for Mom. The remarkable part is that all of our clothes were also crisply ironed and mended, hung neatly in our closets the day after we tossed them on the floor. We never, ever used a towel more than once. Bed linens were clean and though the sheets were not ironed, the pillowcases were starched and ironed. She did all of this on top of keeping a clean and tidy house, home cooked meals that were delicious, and bookkeeping and general management of my dad's business! My only contribution was to vacuum and dust on Saturdays, hang out the sheets on the clothesline when I was out of school (oh yes, we always had sweet smelling, clothes line-dried sheets when weather permitted) and dry the dishes before we got a dishwasher. The boys did nothing, which was fine with her.
Really, I think I would have gone stark raving mad before collapsing from exhaustion. Mom would get fed up with us every once in a while, but mostly she went about her tedious chores, humming some big band song and occasionally adding a dance step or two as she worked.
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