I have lived in 17 different locations but we only had a dishwasher in the last couple. The other day, Lynn found a puddle of water on the floor in front of that machine. It has been running faithfully for close to 30 years. She figured it needed a new gasket and asked a service man to look at the machine. We have a good appliance store around here and they check our machine over. They installed the new gasket today, very quickly after we asked for it.
Filling the sink with hot soapy water and cleaning the dishes, glasses, silverware and pans takes us back to starting our life together, having our daughters do the dishes and generally being younger. The Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer showed that installing older people in housing decorated in the style of their youth, playing music from their young years, giving them clothing in the style they wore in their 20's takes them back in mood and spirit. We didn't do all that but just doing the dishes by hand and having them dry in a dish rack did get us thinking of earlier years.
It happens that I washed dishes in college. I washed dishes in a summer job in Vermont after high school. I have had a few other jobs but dishwashing is probably the most characteristic example of duties and work I have done other than teaching. If you see me bouncing along the street, you can attribute my youthful appearance and energy to a return to dishwashing. To refresh me even more, allow me to write dates on my checks [what's a check?] using 19xx instead of this newfangled 20xx.
