Mamaw's Magic Apron

Mamaw's Magic Apron

A Woman's Work

My Mamaw on the right in the white shirt with her sisters

Memories like a creek's water undulate at preternatural times. On cold winter nights when the wind howls and the frost creeps in through the windowpanes the memories are more persistent, and the next morning they may be less pressing after a night snuggled under a handmade quilt. Sometimes a hot summer day will cause the memories to rise in my mind like a rouge rain shower will raise the creek's level. It's hard to judge when the memories will rise or flood you like the deluge running down into the creek causing the banks to give and flood the borders so it's just easier to let the memories flow. 

The memories and thoughts have been persistent for the last few days of my Mamaw's aprons (and her muumuus). She didn't wear an apron every day, but if she was at home tending her garden, cooking, or doing house work she usually had one tied around her muumuu. The muumuu was her daily house wear until she changed into a nightgown. Her muumuu provided her the utility of the apron without being another piece of clothing to wash, hang out to dry, and iron. 

Mamaw in 1958 wearing an apron over her dress with my mom at 3yrs old.

I can see her standing in her kitchen with the plastic laminate white counter tops with gold flecks measuring out ingredients for  cornbread or a cake. She would be standing there in her muumuu with large glasses talking about the weather or the church with my mom. The dress was usually a calico pattern. A basic color such as pale green, blue, or white with a small design on it of flowers or little nonsensical symbols. Utilitarian but comforting. That's what I think of when I think of those muumuus. Comfort. A home away from home. 

My Mamaw lived next door while I was growing up. My sister and I spent as much time over there as we did at our own home. It wasn't the house itself that we loved to visit (though I did lose many hours wandering through the same four rooms looking through drawers and closets) it was Mamaw. 

And when I think of her I think of those muumuus and the aprons she wore from time to time. The aprons though seemed to be a memory for her as well. That she would don one becuase that is what her mother or her mamaw would wear daily.

Looking at pictures of the women in the Appalachian mountains just a decade removed from my Mamaw's generation (she was born in 1916) you will find the women are almost always wearing an apron tied around their waist. Much like the utilitarian usage of the muumuu's pockets its why the women wore the aprons. 

Great Great Aunt Sarah (pronounced Sarie) wearing an apron daily

During the daily tasks of tending the gardens, feeding the chickens and other animals, cooking, keeping the fire going, etc they carried the daily needs with them. The twine to tie up plants, the tobacco to smoke or dip, and any of the other little pieces of daily minutiae that they would need. 

The apron also provided a little extra protection during those daily activities. It protected their dresses from spills, stains, and tears from thorns. The aprons weren't worn just once a week, but daily and would abosrb all the scents and markings of that weeks work. 

The aprons and my mamaw's muumuus weren't just clothing. They were magic. Theses simple pieces of clothing held the machinations for the mundane work, and were able to dry tears, clean hands, wipe up spills, and create memories. At the end of the day the magical clothing would be hung up to rest only to be tied back on the next day to start the biscuits, and the fire. 

They are time keepers.