My Clothesline

If you had told me fifteen years ago that one of the things that would make me happiest in my mid-thirties was a clothesline, I would have told you to kill me now and put me out of my inevitable misery. But it’s true. My clothesline does make me happy. And in a life that some days has me busier than I ever imagined possible, it also offers me a sense of calm and total satisfaction.

Part of the reason I am able to enjoy my clothesline so much is that it is just out of the sight of the kids when they look out the back door to find me.  I can sneak out with a nice full load of laundry and stay out of view just long enough for them to forget about me and go find their dad.  Wow, alone with the laundry – every girl’s dream. 

I sometimes feel very pioneer like when I am out there in nature, the birds chirping around me and our clothes and sheets flapping in the wind.  It’s like I’m connecting with my sisters from simpler days (well, the days weren’t actually so simple because ‘my sisters’ would have first had to wash all of the clothes and sheets by hand). It’s like I’m an environmental crusader, doing my part to save the earth by not using my dryer from June until August. 

I love that by the time I hang the basket of laundry, it has already started to dry. I love the smell of my sheets.  I love that everything is just a little crunchy and has those clothespin marks in them – no – I don’t really love those things about hanging my clothes but nothing is perfect.  

I grew up with a clothesline in our backyard. I remember its rusting, white posts and I don’t really recall much laundry being hung on besides the odd, damp beach towel. An unused clothesline is just wasted potential – a wasted opportunity to experience one of the simplest pleasures in life. 

Like I said, I would have been devastated to have been told in my twenties that I would find happiness in a clothesline. But out in my backyard, hiding from my kids on a sunny day and hanging my underwear for all my neighbours to see is truly a beautiful thing.