When my grandparents were younger, they didn’t have a lot of money and so my gram worked a lot of different jobs while my grandfather was working his main job. They were busy so didn’t see that much of each other. But every night after dinner, they’d stand side-by-side at the sink and wash the dishes together. She’d wash and he’d dry, and sometimes they’d alternate. Later when these crazy, newfangled machines called ‘dishwashers’ were becoming more common, she proudly announced that she was going to buy the family a new one. This would be a big expense, but she somehow always managed to get by, invoking the phrase, ‘the lord shall provide.’ She was the matriarch of the house. there was no need for a patriarch. My grandfather didn’t have much say in that household. My grandmother used to tell me she always got her way (and I witnessed it often myself) but only because my grandfather was so kind and gentle.

But this time he shocked her—he overrode the idea, saying that their after-dinner cleaning time was special to him, and they would NOT be getting a dishwasher thank you very much. She had no idea until that moment how much it had meant to him.

Their household remained dishwasher-free for the next 20 years, when they moved into a house that, for good or bad, already had one. ❤️