Pressing Matters

The other day I was in my favorite store, Goodwill, when I came upon some irons for sale. They were not just any irons. They were Rowenas, which are known to be the best. Take a look here and here. 

I wanted to shout to the other shoppers “Hey, good deal over here!” but they were busy perusing videos, tvs, and old dvds,.

It is a little known fact that ironing clothes is one of life’s special pleasures. You take a cotton shirt off the clothes line. It looks terrible, full of crumples and wrinkles. You power up your Rowena to high, make sure the water tank is full, press the steam button to watch the little clouds puff, and you are good to go.

First, the collar. You lay it flat on the ironing board and start at the pointy ends. First the outside, then the underside. You control the spiky part of the iron to get into the little area of the collar tips.

Now you move to the shoulders. You position the left one on the narrow part of the ironing board, with the front and back of the shirt hanging down. You go over the smooth part of the shirt, towards the back. You use the iron tip to get in between the gathers at the front of the shirt. When this is complete you move to the right shoulder.

Now you are ready for the back. You have to start with the shirt off center, because the board can accommodate only a third of it. You move over the left third, then the middle third, then the right third. You have a lot of fabric to work with. This is the area on which you can glide the iron the furthest. 

After the back, the front. This is the most important. Left side, right side, getting into any tucks at the top. 

Arm fronts, including the cuffs around the buttons, left and right. Arm backs.

Then you give it a once-over, checking to make sure the shirt is sleek as can be. You place it on a hanger, button it at the top, and give it plenty of room in your closet so that it is protected from any threat to its tranquility.

While you are performing all of these thoughtful actions you feel the warmth of the iron and the fabric, you hear the hiss of the steam, and you smell the whiff of transformation.

How often in life do you get to ease out the wrinkles this easily? Ironing is a way of taking control of a messy problem and creating a beautiful refuge that you want to crawl into. It is a calming and purifying experience. It is a way of bringing a small degree of peace into a chaotic world.