Blessings of the Ordinary

Who makes your bed?” This question from a visitor came out of the blue. I am in my nineties, and I live alone. I have no family close by, and I do not have household help, so I answered her question, “I make my bed.” She then asked, “Well, who washes your sheets?” Once again I responded, “I do. Though I do not wash them on a washboard or hang them on the line.” I thought about it later and about how different things are now from when I was young.

When I was a child, my mother was left with four daughters and her mother to care for, and she had no way to earn a living. It was during the Great Depression, and jobs were hard to find, but through the help of longtime friends, Mother found a job cooking the noon meal at a country school. It meant moving out of town and giving up electricity, indoor plumbing, and running water. Everything, including the sheets, had to be washed on a washboard and hung on a clothesline. The water source was a spring at the bottom of a hill, and water had to be carried up the hill in buckets. But we had a place to live, food to eat, and each other! At the end of the school year, a better job opened up, and we moved back to some, but not all, of the conveniences we had learned to do without. At least, we had electricity, a better water source, and a telephone! Then even better times came when Mother remarried.

A local bachelor businessman had been an admirer since their youth, and when circumstances brought them together, it led to a happy marriage and the birth of a fifth daughter. We moved into town and finally had all the conveniences that we had missed, including a bathroom! A wringer washer replaced the washboard, and we had running water instead of buckets, but everything still had to be hung on the clothesline until automatic dryers became available. Now, we have conveniences we never dreamed of back then. But one thing has not changed—my bed still does not make itself. I am thankful I can still do it.

My automatic washer and dryer take care of my sheets.

I give thanks often for the many blessings we so easily take for granted, and I am reminded of one of my favorite promises: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7, KJV). Even when you are in your nineties!

Mary Jane Graves