Mother's Apron

In addition to being a Realtor®, I’m a maker, creating all kinds of things. I’ve been working on a new project, assembling odds and ends of cotton into aprons, and it got me to thinking about all the things for which you can use an apron.

My mother always wore an apron, keeping her dress or slacks clean from whatever culinary delights she was preparing for all of us, or clean from the chores that occupied her days raising seven of us children.  Her apron served more of a purpose than just that though. She could gather things up in it like apples from a tree in our backyard, or fresh vegetables from our garden, or miscellaneous bits and bobs that might have fallen… buttons from a tin, coins on a counter, small pieces from a game.

If you were on a farm, that apron might gather up eggs. You might use the edges, folded over to grab a hot dish from the oven. I’m sure many an apron has been part of wiping sweat from someone’s brow or conveniently wiping dust off a counter. Corn husks and the shelled pods from peas could be easily escorted to the compost pile once you gathered them all up in your apron. A stop to wipe a tear from a child’s face, or a wave to a neighbor using the apron as a way to amplify the greeting, or maybe even being a place of refuge for a shy child, the apron served a lot of purposes.

At the end of the day, it would be taken off and hung up to await the next day. Oh yes, it would be part of the weekly load of wash, but in the meantime, I’m guessing the tasks it undertook might leave someone by today’s standards thinking it should have hit the laundry far sooner than it might have in a given week.

I know our current crisis has changed us and we view the world as a riskier place. It leaves me longing for the days when we didn’t worry about the germs, although, come to think of it,  my mom did have her own personal can of Lysol and package of toilet seat covers ever at the ready when we’d travel.  I’ll keep working on the aprons but I’ll make sure they’re able to be laundered easily. I’ll continue to be smart and respectful about my actions as I’m out and about in the world, but I am glad that I remember all the love caught up in Mom’s apron. And thankfully, to the best of my recollection, no one ever died from an apron.