Thoughts About Ironing..

I love to iron. It is my hobby. No, really. It is.

You see, many years ago, I read something somewhere about hobbies. And how people don't have time to pursue their hobbies. It all sounded quite frustrating to me, as I was ironing and thinking about it. And then it dawned on me: it's about labels.

So, something I have to do became a hobby. It is the same thing as it was before—ironing--but now, instead of being a “chore” it is my “hobby.” So now I can honestly say that I have time to pursue my hobby.

I was raised by parents who believed that we needed to accomplish something. And I had trouble with that. It seems that I am proficient at daydreaming and there is hardly anything that comes of my daydreams.....so I don't accomplish much. Well, I didn't then, as a child. But now, as an adult, my daydreaming has been relabeled, too. It is called blogging.

I was talking to a friend today. He is ninety-four. He has the greatest name, and it is most unusual, too. I wish I could tell you but, alas, I can't. Somehow, we got on the subject of ironing. I told him that I always iron my uniforms, because I think nurses should look neat and pressed and professional.

He told me a long time ago that his mother was an RN. Today, when we were talking about ironing, he told me more. His father died when he was ten, leaving his mother a widow with three children. According to my friend, she then spent three years becoming an RN so she could support her children.

And then he told me about washing, starching and ironing her uniforms. It seems that she was very tired when she got home from the hospital, so he took on the ironing chores for her. I have this mental picture of a young, teenage boy, meticulously starching and ironing his mother's “cap and apron” for her to wear to work the next day.

It made me remember when I was about that age, too. I would set up the ironing board in the living room, early in the morning, to iron something to wear to school. Before I was done, my father and my brother had each deposited something on the board for me to iron for them, too.

I have never been all that fussy about ironing. I don't need to iron perfectly, or put in special creases and pleats. I just like to get the wrinkles out. And I was never fastidious enough to iron sheets, just the pillowcases.....years ago. And hankies. I used to iron my mother's hankies, too.

Yes, I have a hobby. Standing at the ironing board, accomplishing something. And daydreaming. If I had a dollar for every hour I have spent ironing, I would be rich. That's a lot of ironing....

And a lot of thinking...