2000-12-11 - 19:22 MST

December 11, 2000

Housework

Back down the path of memory past.

Reading Lyra's entry of December 10 th reminded me of my early childhood in regard to housework.

Being the only child and a latchkey kid while both my parents were out striving for survival, the grody housework duties were mine, including starting supper. I could readily see the need for such and why the job fell to me.

We had a coal stove for cooking and heating our small two room house which had a warm water reservoir built in. Part of my duties of course were stirring up the banked fire after school and keeping the reservoir filled. In cold weather I would feed the fire, put the teakettle on to boil. Oh damn, I just hated carrying warm water dipped from the reservoir to the dishpan in the sink, adding boiling tea kettle water to heat it up. Filling the tea kettle and putting it back on the stove to boil for scalding rinse water, and then trying to do a good job on dishes and pans with last nights grime, already set like cement. I hated the entire operation. In the summer I would build a wood fire in our range to heat the tea kettle.

Another despised task was cleaning the commode and bathroom fixtures plus scrubbing floors. Seemed as if I was wrist deep in filth, even though some of it was mine. Some more work that was not to my liking.

Seasonal dreads were Holiday meals at our house which were bad for me, as my uncle was a cook and he prepared those huge meals for company. When he started cooking I had to start washing pots and pans and kitchen implements as fast as I could, still lagging behind what he expected me to do. It was unbelievable the amount of equipment he used -- but also impressive were those delicious repasts we sat down to enjoy. And . . . . of course the cook never helped to do the dishes, which were scraped and stacked on the table and left for me to do, plus the final pan and roaster, etc.

Time flew and I stumbled along trying to keep up -- finally quitting school and going to work. Fortunately I was able to get work on the railroad. While working I met this lovely lady who baby sat for my best friend and his wife. I fell deeply in love, and for some strange reason Heather fancied me. After a period of qualification with her and she figured I would be there for her always, we married.

My reprieve from housework was an unexpected bonus for me and gladly accepted. The kids started coming and as I could earn more money than her - working away from home was my task. She stayed home, raised kids and did housework, plus extras.

I did my share of baby tending, diaper changing and laundry, cleaning up spit up and vomit, feeding some things to one or the other of them that would be projected onto my shirt front, helping to make formula, yadda. yadda, yadda. I never had the feeling that I was too good to have to do any of the work she did, just that after a physically hard day at work I did need to rest.

The calendar pages flipped on and on and on and on.

Now that I am retired I have picked up some of the household tasks, including the modern operation of loading the dishwasher, turning it on and later taking the clean dry dishes out and putting them away. Most any of the tasks so despised by me in my youth have been made so much more convenient than they were in the dim backroom of time. But the flavor of the ancient remains, cleaning the counter and coping with garbage, cleaning the stove and oven and so on.

I am not trying to throw a pity party - - - and no one is invited. Like Jack Webb used to say, "Just the facts ma'am."

A very bright spot in my life were the times we ate holiday meals at my cousin's house. There were three girls and the boy cousin my age, five of us. The meal would be delicious, huge and many folk were served. After the meal the adults would vacate the dining area and kitchen. The five of us would go to it and make easy work of the whole schmear. From cleaning off the table, on through washing, drying and putting the clean dishes, pots and pans away.

This was a bit of learning for me, the realization that I hated to work alone, but that I would enjoy most any work, if there were someone working along with me.

If I could have had a brother or sister near my age it would have been enjoyable to do Housework . . . . . . .

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