Laundry Day

Pulling a shirt from the laundry basket, Jessie placed it into the washing machine. Looking at each piece, she loaded several plaid shirts. Letting her fingers caress the flannel, she remembered the first meeting between her and her husband.

She had been working as a cashier in a grocery store. The two of them had accomplished a wide variety of projects, if you could call it that. They had owned and operated a Dairy Farm where they raised three children. The one thing that kept them going was the love that they had for each other and their family. Thinking more on that first meeting, she smiled as she thought of Stewart buying that pack of gum. As he paid her, he asked, "Will you go out with me?"

"I will, but why are you shaking so?"

From that first date they became one. They spent every non- working moment together. They went out to eat and then for walks in the park. They could not get enough of talking with each other.

A few months later, on Christmas Eve, Stewart ask her to marry him and she said yes. Stewart took her to the dairy farm and ask if she would be happy being a dairyman's wife.

"I will be happy with you regardless of what kind of work that you choose to do." She told him.

They worked very hard to make the farm a success and raise their children; however life has a way of changing directions at times.

When dark days came and they had to sell the farm, they cried and then laughed together about how they would change their lifestyle to fit a new moment in time. They sold the farm and purchased a house and five acres. Jessie went back to work in a grocery store and Stewart returned to operating a bull dozer as he had done when he had served in the army. They knew that God would help them make a way to prosper if they had enough faith. Closing the lid on the full washer, she looked into the kitchen and down the hall leading to the bedroom. Life had changed. She remembered one year when the boys were tiny and both had loose bowels, she had been doing laundry in a ringer washer on the porch. She had pinned up a clothes line full of diapers and tiny undershorts. Within a few months of that event, they had purchased their first automatic washer and dryer. That had made a huge difference in the work load.

The children were grown and she and Stewart were back the way they had started, two people, one loving couple beginning an adventure toward life's unknown pathways. Each day held something new. We tried to meet each challenge with the outlook that what was destined would happen. We would smile even when we felt like crying. Thus life continued onward.

She sighed, "Where had it gone?" She remembered being that smart bratty teenager. Her dream had been to become a writer and a teacher. She was going to be different than all the classmates who chose to get married and have a family. "It is not going to happen to me, I am never going to marry and have children," she remembered telling her mom. Her mom chuckled. Within a year after high school graduation, she and Stewart had met and were married. Thus, the dream of going to college turned into the fun of loving the man of her dreams and working on the dairy farm, raising not only three children, but cows, pigs and chickens.

Loading a basket of towels into the washer, she found one lone flannel shirt and pulled it up to her face, smelling the stale sweat clinging to the collar. Placing it into the washer, she smiled. She remembered the time before the birth of their first child when she and Stewart had gone to the pasture to bring in the cows for the evening milking, they had stopped beneath the old apple tree and made love. Lying under the tree, laughing and whispering, they looked up to find themselves surrounded by the herd of Holsteins. Laughing, they yelled, "barn girls," and away the cows swaggered toward the barn. Those smart animals knew when it was time for milking and feeding. They would never miss a meal.

When the children were old enough, they walked the pasture fields with Stewart to get the cows. He would point out different animals and flowers to them. They learned a lot about nature and life from those excursions.

Jessie was proud of what she had learned on the farm as an adult. She learned how to drive a tractor, how to plant corn, mow and bale hay. She could keep up with the work load that was presented to her. The farm was a great place to raise a family.

With the raising of the children, taking them to their 4-H, school projects, the fair and daily life, the years flew.

"If I had known then, what I know now, would I have changed my life?" As she folded undies, she pondered that question. "Not one day of it?" The joy, the sorrow, the lessons that were learned along the way, every event happens to create a stepping stone to the future. We must press onward and learn from our mistakes and try to make sure our family has the love and knowledge to make a good life.

The boys wed and have children of their own. The youngest, a daughter, became a teacher and married, having children of her own.

Jessie was looking at a picture of the grandchildren and her parents when she realized that the resemblances between relatives was very strong. Hopefully, our children and grandchildren will be as strong and talented as their ancestors. Hopefully we have given them the ability to carry on a tradition of love and respect.

She pulled the last load of clothes from the dryer and began putting them away. Hanging the last shirt on the hanger in the closet, she began to clean around the washer and dryer. When finished, she walked to the kitchen and looked at the clock. "Oh, I have to begin cooking dinner, the children and grandchildren are coming to celebrate our 51st anniversary.