The Art of Hanging Clothes

There are some people who have never hung out clothes to dry on a clothesline. There are probably a lot of reasons for this, but in 2020, we have moved to a more advanced and sophisticated culture of using dryers.

I was recently reminded of the Art of Hanging Clothes while we have been on Stay-at-Home orders. While doing laundry, I ended up with some blankets that had been used in the yard for picnicking or general lounging or playing when you suddenly have 200 hours in each day.

After washing the blankets in the washer, I noticed they were really heavy because they were still holding water. It was a beautiful spring day so instead of sticking them in the dryer, I opened them and flung them across the railing of our deck. The sun holds magical powers and has pretty much never let me down, so I knew they would be dry soon. I went back inside and put the rest of the clothes in the dryer and continued the laundry cycle for the rest of the day.

Later, when I went to check the blankets, I was immediately reminded of scenes from my childhood of going to get the clothes in from the clothesline. 

On windy days you knew you could get the laundry in early but you better check to make sure nothing had blown off into the yard. On stormy afternoons, we would race to beat the rain… you had to get all the clothes off and IN THE HOUSE before they got wet again. One year, we had a neighbor with a particularly wild dog who would come take things off the line and I would find my shorts and favorite white sweater or other clothes in their yard. Good times.

This walk down memory lane made me think about the fact that in order to do laundry back in the old days, we had to have time. Time to wash the clothes and then time to take them out and hang the laundry piece by piece on the line. Hanging it so it wouldn’t dry with those little clothespin marks on it took extra time. 

We also had to have time to wait for it to dry. We had to have time to go out and take it down piece by piece. Folding as you go was the best strategy, but if it was too hot or too cool or a storm was coming, you would wait and fold inside. Hanging clothes on the line basically meant you had to start in the morning and plan to come back to it in the afternoon. It was a chore that took patience in addition to time.

I hadn’t thought about hanging clothes out in a long time. And truth be told, I hated it growing up. It was one of my least favorite chores and on more than one occasion I let the storm beat me so I could pass on the washing and drying and folding and putting away for the next day in hopes it would be someone else’s chore. But as I pulled those soft blankets in off the deck that smelled of sunshine and fresh air, I was happy to be able to do it. 

Here’s the thing: this slower way of doing things isn’t all bad. There are plenty of things I am doing the long way instead of the short way just because I can right now. It turns out the long way still works – and when you don’t have 40 other things to do, the long way is not annoying anymore. In fact, the long way makes you slow down. 

So, thank you Stay-at-Home orders for doing the impossible: creating time.