June 27, 2017 - "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." Colossians 3:20
As we were growing up, Monday was the most dreaded day of our summer-time week..…and it probably was for Mother, too. It meant getting up early, gathering wood, building a fire under the wash pot, and filling up three number 2 tubs from the well. It also meant cutting up a bar of lye soap in the pot and getting our rub board and broom handle "punch stick" ready for action.
One this particular Monday morning while my brothers and I were getting ready to go fishing, Mother called out, "Come on, boys." "It's Wash Day". For some senseless reason, I put my overalls on, grabbed a hammer and began breaking up pieces of a discarded iron stove to shoot in our slingshots. I didn't know that Mother had followed me down the hill, so when she boomed, "Young man, get back to the house!" I was so startled that I spun around with my fists doubled up. I expected a swift response from Mother, but instead she began laughing and walking back to the house. About half way back, she turned around and was noticeably unsurprised when she saw me right behind her.
We all punched and "rub-boarded" till mid-afternoon and finally got the clothes on the line. But as exhausted as we got that day, it seemed well worth it when we all slept that night on sheets that smelled just like sunshine.
After Bill and I left home, our brother Joe bought Mother a Bendix Washer/Dryer Combination…. and since Monday wasn’t Wash Day anymore, my younger siblings never had one like ours.
They don't know what they missed.