July 17, 2020 (Friday)
I was reading an article about prayer when I saw the words, “laundry list.” The author was saying that sometimes when he prays he finds himself presenting a “laundry list” of needs to the Lord.
I looked up “laundry list” and found two meanings: one is “a list of things sent out to be laundered.” Then there was a derived meaning: “A long and often tedious list of items.” The second definition is idiomatic, and is the one most people have in mind when they use the expression.
At one time, my mother worked in a laundry substation, where people dropped off their laundry and picked it up when it was clean. That may be why laundry at her house was always sent out to be laundered.
Her mother, my grandmother, had a different approach. The expression, “laundry list,” would have held no meaning for her. On “wash day” she built a fire outdoors, under a huge immovable black pot, which she 
filled with water. (One day, as a child, I fell onto the pot and put a gash above my eye. The scar is still there after all these years). After a while, the water became boiling hot. Little by little, she took water in buckets from the big old pot, and poured it into other tubs as needed. (No modern water heater). She added soap to a tub of warm water where she placed the laundry that needed to be washed. She washed each piece by hand on a “rubbing board,” also called a “washboard.”
After rubbing the soil away, she placed the clean, “wrung out” items in a tub of rinse water (sometimes warmed). Then she placed those items into a tub of water where “bluing” had been added. After wringing them out again, she placed the items in a tub of water for the final rinse. The “agitator” in each tub was a long stick, usually an old mop handle.
She was fortunate to have a “wringer” which consisted of two rollers, turned by a common crank, and each item was run through it after that final rinse. The wringer squeezed out a lot of water. Sometimes the apparatus was used after each step in the process of washing and rinsing. Not everyone had such a “modern invention.” Afterwards, she pinned each item to a clothesline in the back yard with “clothespins.”
In hours, if it did not rain, she removed the dried items one by one, took them into the house and folded the items one by one before putting them in their place where we family members would grab them for their use, without giving a thought to what my grandmother had done to provide clean clothes for us. Certain items were starched and ironed, and sometimes that took a lot of time and was very tiring.
The words, “laundry list” had no meaning for my grandmother. All she had was a pile of clothes that needed to be washed. No list. This happened every Monday, weather permitting.
Wanda’s mother told her that back in the old days, with big families, her mother (Wanda’s grandmother) gave all the kids a dose of paregoric on Sunday so they would sleep on Monday, giving her a chance to do the washing, which took all day. Somehow she managed to put full meals on the table three times that day. (Paregoric is a derivative of opium! You can’t just go to the drug store and buy it anymore).
Next time you throw a bunch of clothes into a modern washer, think about “the good old days.” When you remove them from the drier, think about those good old days again.
BACK TO THE SUBJECT OF PRAYER
Now, about that “laundry list of needs” when praying. Maybe it would be a good idea when we pray, to remember John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Think, as you pray, Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for Him. I’ll betcha you come up with a completely different list.
A Poem About the Good Old Days
From “I Lived It,” a song performed by Blake Shelton
Mama poured grease in a Crisco can
Put a hundred thousand miles on a Sears box fan
Uncle Joe put tobacco on my hand where
Them yellow jackets tore me up
And I ain’t making this up
Oh, you think I’m talking crazy
In a different language you might not understand
Oh, that’s all right
That’s just the kind of life that made me who I am
Just taking my mind on a visit
Back in time ’cause I miss it