As you may or may not know, I’ve been in Virginia Beach for over a year now taking care of my grandson. I spent the first eight months at my son’s house because his wife was deployed and then moved over to my daughter Sarah’s place.
I like to wear these button down, long sleeve, casual shirts, you know, the kind you have to iron. Now I’m lucky that they both have an ironing board and iron but I’ve found out they hardly ever use them.
“Ya know, there’s a setting for that.”
They both point out that their dryers have a “wrinkle free“ or “wrinkle away” setting and that seems to work for Doug’s every day uniforms. The fancy ones get pressed.
As for Sarah, the banker, she has a steamer that she uses in the morning to get her clothes ready. I think the steamer is awesome but not to use on all your shirts. Maybe to spruce them up or take care of a last minute wrinkle. I’m used to having my shirts ironed at least once a week. And full disclosure: it’s usually done once a week by my wife Priscilla.
Sarah: “And if it says ‘Dry clean only,’ that shi(r)ts going back.”
I admit it: my mom did all of those things for me and my brother growing up. When we got married I didn’t know how to iron. In fact, once I was in a hurry so I turned the iron on high (Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when you’re in a rush?). I tried to iron some pants and melted them. I shudder to think of all the polyesters that gave their life that day. From that day on I gave up ironing.
Well once I came down here the kids weren’t going to do it for me (trust me, I asked). I thought maybe they could do mine while they were doing their ironing but they don’t DO any ironing. So I’m doing it, once a week. It ain’t pretty but I get most of the wrinkles out.
They don’t iron!
My children all know how to iron. Once my wife saw my abilities after she married me and saw that my mommy did everything for us she said, “No child of mine is not going to know how to take care of him or herself.” Sarah actually made some money her first year at Salem State. All the guys knew if they lost a button, go to Sarah and she would sew it on. $1 per button.
That’s just one of the many things I’ve noticed that they do differently down here than we do. They never carry cash either. Everything is done with a card or using an app on the phone. I’ve started doing that too and the other day had to actually make a separate stop so that I could get some cash for a tip. I later found out I could have used something called “Venmo” (?) to tip but I’ve got enough to handle.
Wonder about the future….
Now you know why I stare at my grandson Liam while he’s sleeping and wonder: “What will his world be like when he’s grown up?” Will we have self-ironing clothes? Cashless societies? Will a Smartphone seem archaic?
I bet there will still be no flying cars. “The Jetsons” lied to us all. What a ripoff!
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