Wash Day

My retirement activity fills
my life I I plan for friends
relaxation and writing.
Yet my washing machine
had a computer meltdown.

I hauled sodden washing
into the tub rang the repair
man then waited … waited.

Eventually he came, replaced
the computer unit, my wash
cycle completed, my washing
was pegged on the line. Phew !

Yet there crept into my mind
thoughts of great grandmother
140 years ago newly come
from a distant land with
husband, five young children.

Her husband after a very liquid
lunch fell from a great height
to his death leaving her to
raise them on her own.

The welfare scheme of the little
colonial town gifted her a
mangle to take in laundry
feed herself and her children.
Daily she filled, boiled the
copper, washed clothes, wrung
and hung them out, ironed
returned them to their owners.
Then scrubbed floors and
doorsteps of the fortunate.

I should be thankful
for what I have.


Previously posted April 2018.

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