Iron It Out

Does anybody iron anymore? Someone must iron because I recently purchased the 3rd iron of my married life and the choices were daunting. They have so many makes and models... someone must be doing it!

Yesterday as I was ironing my dear husband's shirts, I also mused about how long I've been ironing. I am estimating the years at somewhere close to 5 decades! I was the youngest of 4 and the only girl. It was my job to iron shirts for Sundays for my dad and brothers. White shirts for Sundays weren't the only shirts to iron because we are talking pre-permanent press. I ironed some pretty nifty plaid shirts back then : )

Of course, I didn't begin on shirts. I cut my "iron" teeth on handkerchiefs. This was the pre-Kleenix age. There was always a stack of kerchiefs on the end of the ironing board! I always felt a sense of accomplishment taking a basket of ironing and turning it into crisp looking shirts hanging on their hangers and a towering stack of handkerchiefs. It was a challenge to neatly iron the scrolled G on my dad's hankie. G for Gary/Gus/Gerhardt.

In addition to being before permanent press and before disposable tissue, my initial ironing days were before steam puffing it's way through the iron. There were steam irons in existence but we didn't own one. First I had to dampen the clothes. At the end of the ironing board sat a 16 oz glass Pepsi bottle with a sprinkle cap on it. The tricky part was ironing without causing the bottle to tip over : )

My ironing yesterday also included dinner napkins so, of course, my musings led me to ask, "Does anyone use napkins anymore?"