Out By The Clothes Line

Recently, my parents moved to a new apartment.  While helping my mom go through her things we came upon this short letter I had written her some years ago.  As I sat next to my mom, I read the letter out loud and we both got choked up.  There is nothing like a sweet memory to influence the senses.

Hey Mom,                                                                                      6/30/00

Do you remember how you would get up early and go hang the laundry outside? When I would wake up I would always know where to find you if you weren’t in the house, I would go outside and sit near you…Just to get a few moments in without the others.

Now, whenever I wake up early in the summer and I hear the birds chirping away and the house is quiet. I think of that…sitting with you in the morning near the clothes line. You hanging the laundry and us talking.  It is one of those peaceful memories.

Love,

Alison

For as long as I remember, I have been an early riser.  Some of this I blame on my mom because if I ever tried to sleep in past 8 am she would come into my room singing some made-up song about how it was time to rise and shine and that the birds were up and because they were up, I needed to get up too.  This reasoning made absolutely no sense to me, but as I entered my teen years, our family life became tumultuous and I began to enjoy the quietness of the mornings and the stability that I found in those few quiet moments I spent with my mom out by the clothing line in the backyard.

Waking up early was just a piece of the care that would be required to get this precious alone time…the other piece was getting down our old squeaky staircase without waking up one of my four siblings.  I can remember tiptoeing down the first 3 steps, skipping the 4^th, stepping to the right of the 5^th step and once I got past the 6^th step, I was home free.  Once I made it to the bottom of the staircase, I would walk through the house looking for my mom and in the summertime, if she wasn’t in the kitchen, I knew to head outside where I would often find her hanging laundry in the backyard.  Sometimes, I would help her with the laundry and other times I would sit down on the picnic table nearby and we would talk.  Those early morning moments were peaceful, unlike the rest of the day that would be chaotic and busy and in them, and in them, I was reassured that I was loved.

My mom wrote me back after receiving the above letter.  Here is what she said:

Alison, Wow, you made me cry.  Funny how the small things in life are the treasures. I never would have thought that that time would make such an impact on you.  Anyway, I shall treasure your words and I sure do appreciate you writing them down and sending them to me. I am very moved by that! Thanks.

Love, Mom