It’s amazing how certain objects or experiences evoke memories that take us back in time unexpectedly. Every summer the clotheslines in my backyard take me back to my growing up years in Yekepa, Liberia.
In 2003, when we were looking to buy our home, it was exciting, hectic, draining, scary, and a host of mixed emotions, all at the same time. After looking at about a dozen houses and starting to detect anxious look on our realtor’s face that translated to “you’re taking too much of my time—I could have sold more houses by now”, we walked into our current home. It wasn’t spectacular or had everything we wanted but it felt right---you just know when it happens. We went outside to check out the yard and there, standing partially under a maple tree, were a pair of t-shaped clothesline poles.
At that very moment, I had flashbacks of my childhood---washing clothes and hanging them up on the clothesline to dry (according to mom’s specifications), sometimes discovering dirt on the clothes from passersby holding the clothes aside in order to make their way through our yard, sometimes finding clothing items in the neighbor’s yard blown there by the wind and making sure to take them in at the end of the day or when it was about to rain.
The clothesline was also a gathering place for kids in neighborhood. We often used the poles for makeshift swing and took turns swinging. There were times when we got in trouble with our parents for either bending a pole or breaking it from the weight of our swinging.
It probably sounds funny but I saw those poles as a sign that that particular house was to be my home and I couldn’t wait for summer, to relive the experience of using Mother Nature to dry my clothes once again.
Today, having the clotheslines allow us to save on energy (not running the dryer 24/7) and gives me the opportunity to share stories from my childhood with my children. The kids are creating their own clothesline memories: a couple of years ago, my son broke his arm swinging from the pole and sometime ago, one of my nieces came over while I was hanging up some clothes and she said, “Aunty Rita, I didn’t know you could hang clothes outside.” Imagine that.
These days, it’s the little things that bring me joy. Hanging clothes outside to dry is one of those things. I can only hope that in the process, we are also creating lasting memories so that the children can someday, in the far future, have wonderful clothesline flashbacks too.
What objects or experiences have taken you back in time?
