A Lost Art

When I watch my mom iron a shirt, a pair of pants, or anything else, I'm just in awe. I don't know HOW she does it so effortlessly. When she's finished, she has a totally and completely wrinkle-free garment.

Ironing is not something I do well.

Please note that I didn't say that it is not something I do, because I have been known on occasion to pull out the ironing board and the iron.

I've actually timed myself while ironing a dress shirt. I am PROUD to say that I can now iron a dress shirt in LESS THAN 45 minutes! It's not necessarily wrinkle-free, but it's passable.

My mom has tried to teach me so many times how to do this the right way. Remember, this is the same woman who is a perfectionist about bed-making and towel-folding , so you can imagine what those "lessons" are like! Heck, she even keeps her ironing board up ALL THE TIME!

When I went through all my clothes over Labor Day weekend, I tried to look at things with an objective eye. There were things that I know needed ironed and I thought to myself, "Self, if you would get up half an hour earlier each morning, you could iron those things and they would be wearable for school."

That lasted about all of a day. Not too long after I had ironed some shirts for Ted this past summer, my mom called and asked me what I was doing. I casually mentioned that I had just finished ironing Ted's shirts. She asked me how long it took and I told her...I ironed 3 shirts in about 2 hours and 55 minutes. She said, "Why didn't you just bring them here so I could iron them?"

Well, I can be a little independent at times, and I know that someday the time will come when I can't depend on my mom for things like this. Besides, I've tried not to ask her to do anything like that for me since she had open heart surgery this past January. Although she's completely recovered, I still don't want to give her more to do than she already has.

Now I just basically look at things and hope they aren't too wrinkled. If they are, I put them in the dryer with a damp towel or washcloth and hope for the best. I can spend hours ironing and what we wear will end up looking like it never saw a hot, flat surface.

I'm not the only one who doesn't iron. My nieces don't iron. My sisters-in-law don't iron. I seriously doubt if my aunts iron, and I don't think my cousins iron either. Some of the people I work with don't iron. Of course I haven't asked them all, so that's why I'm saying SOME.

Those few people that do iron, either can do it extremely well, or struggle with it big time, like me.

And that's why it's becoming a lost art.