Ah, the smell of springtime!
Oct 09 '00
I don’t know about you, but when I was a little girl my mother used to hang her laundry out on the washline. Spring, summer, fall, even winter, there she’d be hanging those wet clothes out. How she prayed for a dryer! We live in a city that is known for it’s extremely harsh winter climate, and even in the winter, minus forty degrees, she’d be out there hanging sheets and shirts, socks and towels. I remember those winter days, her hands so red from the cold, fingers with gnarled knuckles pulling the frozen sheets out of the laundry basket. Stiff as boards they were, we were afraid they would crack if we bent them. I always helped her, and together we would hang the frozen laundry on makeshift clotheslines in the basement, and wait for the clothes to thaw.
I will never, ever forget the smell of those sheets and towels. Even in the winter they smelled like fresh spring air. Oh, it was heaven to crawl into bed the nights we put on those clean crisp sheets! I always slept best on those nights. Pulling on sweaters, wrapping your scarf around your face, the smell always made us feel like maybe, just maybe, winter really wouldn’t last forever. And of course, it didn’t. The day my mother’s first dryer was delivered was the end of an era for me. Never again did she hang her laundry out on the washline, and I always longed for that smell.
Now I am all grown up, with children of my own. The smell of fresh spring air is in my home today. No, I don’t go to the extremes my mother had to. I own a dryer, and I am not crazy enough to hang those clothes out in the winter, but I will until there’s snow on the ground. This week is probably the last week I will be able to do this chore, and I am washing every single bit of bedding and clothing that can possibly be fit into my washing machine. My children went to bed in a hurry tonight, yes, they can smell that smell, and they love it! They’re so happy when they come home and see their favorite blankets hanging on the washline. They are anxious to help me bring in the laundry and help me make the beds. The smell permeates the entire house.
As I sit writing this I can smell fresh spring air, and clean , clean laundry. And I feel like a kid again. And in a funny way it brings me closer to my mother. I appreciate even more all the efforts she made to try to make our home a good place to be, a safe place to be. And I love her for that.
You might think it's silly to write an opinion about hanging out the laundry, but that's not really what this opinion is about. It's about remembering your inner child, however you may do that. It may seem like such a little thing, but I think that anything that can bring you back to the simpler days of your childhood is a wonderful thing. We all need to remember when life was full of simple pleasures, and this is an easy way for me to do that. It is something that my children and husband appreciate, and it just plain makes me feel good.
Everyone has something that makes them revisit their childhood, whether it be a smell, a taste, or a touch. I hope that you all will remember to do just that, at least once in a while. It is such a good feeling.
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Member: Beverley
Location: Canada
Reviews written: 290
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About Me:
So good to be home, but so very tired!
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