Bringing in the Sheets

Over the weekend it warmed up to a toasty upper forties, maybe even fifties, the sun made a Spring-like appearance. Not quite warm enough to clean the garage or work anything crazy like that, but it did inspire all sorts of spring-cleaning feelings in me. I turned off the furnace, opened up a window in every room of the house (sorry Dave and kids), rolled up my sleeves, and went on the attack. By evening I had hit most every room of the house with a bit of my fury. But the one thing that shocked me was the bags of clothes I took out of my closet to bag up and donate. I tried on every single pair of jeans, and over half went into the bag. And really....how many plaid shirts does one middle-aged mom/grandma need?! I realized that most everything I put into the bags was previously purchased from a thrift store. But as I gazed at the piles I couldn't help but wonder at not only the volume of clothes I have, but the volume of clothing the average American woman owns.

I placed my donation bags on the laundry room counter-top, and then started a load of sheets in the washing machine, and then went back into our bedroom to make the bed with the extra set of sheets I keep folded in our closet. First straightening the mattress cover, then stretching the fitted sheet over, I took the flat sheet and whipped it in the air over the bed and waited for it to float down onto the mattress. A soft sheet. A sheet dried in a dryer on low for forty min. No softener sheets added since I quit using those a little over a year ago. "I wish these sheets weren't so soft already...It just doesn't feel like a proper Saturday if you haven't had your Saturday night bath, and slide your clean, lotioned self in-between crisp sun-dried sheets."

Dave and I on our last trip to Bandelier, my old family home was vacant, I walked around the back yard and sure enough, there is the clothes line, (and behind it the old rock terraced wall where my brother Alan grew a great tomato garden one summer)

I grew up with no clothes dryer. I'm not sure if any of my little friends moms had dryers. I just figured all moms did laundry on Saturday and hung it out on the clothes-line, folded it, and ironed the clean white shirts for the dads and brothers to be ready for Sunday and the upcoming week of school and work. My dad wore a Park Service uniform, mama was either in jeans and a t-shirt or cut-off jeans and a t-shirt. Saturday she'd wear a mumu dress to clean in while her clothes were out on the line. She'd carry her wicker laundry basket outside and ask me to come along with her so I could hand her the clothes pins. Once in a while when she'd hang sheets, she and I would play a game of "peek-a-boo" at opposite ends of the sheet. When the sun had officially done it's job, we'd go back out to reverse the process. She, taking the clothes off and then handing me the pins to put back into the wrinkled little brown paper sack that held them. The last piece off the line, she'd start singing in her silly voice, "Bringing in the sheets!....Bringing in the sheets! We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheets!" (Sung to the tune of the Hymn "Bringing in the Sheaves". Later that night after my Saturday night bath, my wet hair twisted into pin-curls for church, I'd slide in-between the crisp sun-dried cotton sheets, and think that Saturdays were probably my favorite day ever. (except for the part where I'd had to do the dusting as my chore).

When we moved to New Mexico, there were winter mornings where our Levi jeans weren't quite all the way dry. Mama would "bake" them in the oven at a low temp for a few minutes to finish them off. "Beware those metal rivets and buttons" she'd warn us.

The Mesa, AZ house, the clothes line with a fabulous pool right close by.

Our house in Mesa was a whole different experience. "By the time I hang up the last piece of clothing, I can already start bringing in the first!" Yes, one of the many miracles of living in 115 degree plus temperatures. One of my chores was to bring in the clothes off the line when I'd get home from school and dump them onto her bed. I'd plop them on the bed and then scoop several of them into my arms and smell the mixture of clean soap and sunshine. Nearly intoxicating.

After I married, I'd come home to do laundry, so we could save money on the expensive apartment common laundry machines, but mostly so I could hang the clothes out on the line while taking a swim/tan in the pool as they dried. Once we started having babies, we moved into an apartment my in-laws owned and rented out to us. The back-yard was perfect. A garden, citrus trees, and my favorite...a clothes-line! I used cloth diapers for the babies. The Arizona sun-shine baked them into the brightest of white. I'd place my baby onto the laundry basket and together we'd hang the diapers. She'd chew on the end of a wooden clothes-pin while I'd hang the white diapers one after another and marvel at how I could almost bring in the first after hanging the last.

Our apartment in Mesa, AZ. Peek-a-boo with my babies, just like me with my mama.

Eventually our young family moved north to Boise, Idaho. It was such a dramatic change. Our first winter I had a case of Seasonal Affective Disorder. My husband installed a window on the west side of our North facing house. We purchased a dryer for our ever-growing family, and when the sun would hit through that new window just right, I'd curl up like a cat in a sun-patch and catch some much needed vitamin D. The clothes line was neglected until Summer, and I was so incredibly grateful for the dryer.

My mama hanging out the laundry with her little grandies Elisabeth and Conrad in Boise. It was a magical time.

This last week in looking through my closet and drawers and reflecting on how few clothes I had as a child, teen-ager and young mother, Do I have so many clothes now because I had so few then? Do I have such a scarcity mentality? Perhaps I was simply content with what I had back then. Maybe if I had to hang each piece of my clothing outside on the clothes-line to dry, I'd be more thoughtful about the volume I own. And to a larger extent, what has happened to our society where fashion trends seem to change weekly, and what is happening with all the un-sold items that churn out so quickly? What and who are we dressing for? Who am I being influenced by in the world of fashion.

For now, I think I'm going to look into doing a "capsule wardrobe". A few basic pieces that are more classic and timeless and can be interchanged. And as far as sheets go, well....I am still team clothes-line for sheet drying without a doubt. Our HOA doesn't allow clothes lines, but maybe I'll sneak one of those circular ones that can be collapsed down into our yard. If you're my neighbor just don't rat me out please! And I'll try to keep my hymn-singing at a reasonable level.

Doesn't this beautiful picture just make ya wanna but out in a hymn?! "Bringing in the Sheets! Bringing in the Sheets! We shall come rejoicing bringing in the Sheets!"