Mom did laundry in an old wringer washing machine all the time I was growing up. She used a crooked stick to take the clean laundry out of the tub to push the clothes into the wringer.

Once clean, she hung our clothes out to dry. In the winter, she hung them to dry in the basement next to the giant oil furnace that had arms like a giant spider that led to every vent in the house.

Mom never asked for help with the laundry. Do you think that the memories of when she was a kid, Uncle John got his arm stuck in the wringer and tore his forearm skin clean off, kept her from wanting us to help?

Once I was in high school, a Fred Meyers was built with an attached laundro-mat a few blocks from home. Then, and only then, did she ask for help with the laundry.

She never had a washer and dryer until her and Dad sold the house and moved to an apartment complex in Beaverton in the 70s. Even then, it wan’t her washer and dryer.

After Dad died and she retired, she moved in with us when she turned 62. The first thing she bought was a brand new Sears & Roebuck washer and dryer.

Mom lived with me until she passed away at 89 years old and I never did another load of clothes until she passed away.