The Blessings and Curses of Modern Conveniences.

For many years, I've thought about how grateful I am to be living in America in the 21st century: I have a warm, comfortable house; indoor plumbing; heat and air conditioning; clean air to breathe and clean water to drink; and all kinds of machines that make my life easier. I always thought how lucky I am that I have a washing machine and don't have to drag a pile of clothes to a river somewhere and wash them on a board and line dry them. Lately, though, I've been thinking that if I DID have to bring them to the river, we would have less clothes, and I'd be carrying two or three items per person, tops, instead of the multitude of shirts, the undershirts, the 10 pairs of underwear, 14 different pajamas, and 7 pairs of skinny jeans in the laundry that I do just for the two girls. Add in the pajamas and shirts and pants and socks of the boy, the copious laundry that I do for Dan, and my own meager additions and it becomes a never-ending process. Maybe less is more in this situation. But then again, we probably smell a lot better, too.