It Isn't Easy Being Green

I am listening to the swish and whirs of our dishwasher and it occurs to me how my city upbringing has made simple, commonplace items seem very luxurious. I am even somewhat humbled by the excitement these little things bring me, taking me back to my childhood self, when dreams were big and the cup overfloweth with possibility. For instance, I remember the first time (though I can't recall the exact place) I had a sink with the hose attachment - this was big, this was like on TV, the mother dutifully cleaning the pots and pans after a family meal, little Johnny sneaking up behind her, giving her a little scare, she turning around in surprise with the hose in hand, giving little Johnny a playful spray of warm water, the two sharing a good laugh, cut to a closeup of bottled dish detergent, Mom and little Johnny dripping wet and still laughing in the blurred background, and then back to our scheduled program. I mean, this was suburban ecstasy. I remember I was in a hotel on tour when I first used a dishwasher. I mean, come on, growing up in uptown NYC, I WAS the dishwasher! And that's not to say that we had it particularly rough; we grew up in a massive pre-war apartment that, at today's market value, I couldn't afford to buy (or rent) today. But that was exactly it; with the pre-war space came pre-war piping, so dishwashers (which I don't believe were as commonplace then anyway) weren't really possible to install. However, I don't know that I processed that as a child; instead these "luxuries" were just a part of the "American dream" that always seemed just outside of the grasp of my neighborhood, so far uptown in the forgotten tip of Manhattan. A dryer!! How I have longed to have a dryer in my apartment and now I have one. Years of carting wet clothes from the ninth floor to the lobby, or toting bags of laundry on my back up and down the requisite downtown five-floor walkup put to a glorious end with a turn of a dial and the press of a button. Of course the irony that these long-awaited appliances enter my life at precisely the same time we are being encouraged to embrace a "green" way of life isn't lost on me. Good thing I've got plenty of dishwashing experience under my belt.