Today I spent some time doing one of my mom’s favorite things…ironing.
Zach received a couple new dress shirts for his birthday last week. You should have seen the smile on his face when he opened up the shirt boxes–one that contained a pink dress shirt and matching tie and another with a deep purple dress shirt and matching tie. I’m not sure most 16 year old boys would be thrilled to get such gifts for their birthday. I find it pretty cool that Zach loves that kind of thing.
I think if he had the reason to, he’d dress up every day with a shirt and tie for school. Home soccer games, however, give him a reason in the spring, since the Varsity team dresses up. He loves it!
So today, as I began ironing, I started with his new pink shirt. And as what usually happens when I’m ironing (which isn’t very often), my mind was filled with memories of Mom ironing. I’ve mentioned this in posts before. I couldn’t help but think, “Mom would love to be ironing this new pink shirt.” Mom used to iron clothes in such a way that they looked absolutely perfect. No crease out of place. All wrinkles completely gone. Everything from the collar to the wristbands were perfection. Ironing was one of the many things she was gifted in.
Ali was sitting with her laptop at the dining room table, and I began to share with her about how Mom used to iron. Ali’s probably heard it all 50 times by now. But I talked anyway. I shared how Mom used to dampen the clothes then put them in a bag for a period of time. Wrinkles would fall out–like they weren’t even there to begin with–when she would then iron them. Mom could whip out an ironed shirt in no time. She could probably iron three in the time I iron one. And I recalled how Mom would come out to our home to visit and invariably would ask, “Do you have any ironing for me to do?”
I would give anything to hear her say that today.
I guess because of that, I allowed myself today to enjoy what Mom found enjoyment in. As silly as it may sound, as I ironed Zach’s shirts and thought about Mom, ironing became somewhat relaxing and enjoyable. And instead of stopping at the two shirts, I went on and ironed all four that needed to be done. 🙂
There were a few creases where there shouldn’t be, and the collars weren’t quite as crisp as Mom’s work, but after all said and done, those shirts looked pretty darn good! And that time spent with my iron and ironing board was a highlight of my day!
When Zach puts on his shirts and I get the honor of tying his ties around his neck the mornings of his next home games, I’ll be smiling on the inside and out as I see him looking so sharp and as I think of Mom and her ironing.
Who’d have thought ironing could bring back such great memories?
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