Louis, this story reminded me of Captain Argentina’s piece about buying a washing machine for his mother, but it also reminded me of my childhood.

We were better off than many, and my father was a sucker for the newest version of anything. We had the first TVs in our neighborhood (before I was born) and the first color TVs (after I was born). So, needless to say, we had an automatic washing machine all my life and a dryer was added in 1959 when I was five.

However, my best friend’s parents were from the hills of North Carolina (we were living in Maryland at the time) and although they probably could have afforded an automatic washer, her mother had an old-fashioned wringer one that was a source of fascination for me. I’d never seen anything like it and spent many hours watching her wash clothes. I was terribly disappointed when they finally bought an automatic one in 1968. Her mother, however, was very happy!