d is for dryers...

hauling water.  heating the water over a wood stove in your kitchen.  hauling the water back out to your wash basin.  scrubbing your clothes up and down the washboard.  wringing the articles of clothes out.  then pinning them to your clothesline to dry. 

modern conveniences like dishwashers, clothes washers, refrigerators, microwaves, electric or gas stoves, and especially dryers.  i am thankful for all of them, but dryers might make the top of the modern convenience list.

this may sound like a strange thing to be thankful for, but my very best friend, shreddie, has lived the last several years without a dryer.  what?  why?  well shreddie and her family have been living overseas and dryers are a luxury, they haven't been fortunate enough yet to live in a place that has a dryer.

can you even imagine?  i know there are folks out there who choose to line dry their clothes, but that is not what i am talking about.  for the last two years shreddie lived in belarus.  if you are a lame-o like me, this is by russia.   picture this, it's lets say october, your heat still hasn't been turned on by the government, you wash your jeans and then hang them in your designated drying area.  how many days do you think it takes to dry jeans without heat in your home?  try about three days.  after those three days you have stiff as a board, can stand up on their own clean jeans.  ouch.

for the next three years shreddie is in turkmenistan.  if you are a lame-o like me, this is by iran.  all i really know is that this is a "stan" country that is sandy and she is 10 miles from the border of iran.  she has been there since the end of august.  i got to skype with her for the first time today!  yahoo.  i was actually surprised to learn that she doesn't have a dryer.  i live a very sheltered life compared to shreddie and i honestly had no clue that dryers were so rare outside of the states.  anyway, she was commenting on how using towels after the shower was like drying off with sandpaper.  uh...ouch!

so today i am very thankful for my dryer.  not only does my dryer make my clothes dry lickety split, it softens them and if i hang them up fast enough i don't have to iron them.