Modern conveniences make our lives so much easier. Here are ten I’m determined to not take for granted.
10. Door knobs. Laura Ingalls Wilder did her darndest to make latch strings sound cozy in the Little House series. But have you ever tried to work one? Door knobs are a vast improvement.
9. Comfy shoes. If your job doesn’t require much standing, this one sounds pretty lame. But teachers, sales clerks, nurses, and other people who stand most of the day never take comfy shoes for granted.
8. Bedsteads. The older a person gets, the more a bed on legs is appreciated. For people who live where creepy, crawlies consider your castle their castle, this appreciation comes much sooner.
7. Gardening gloves. A welcome replacement for fingernail brushes that scrub the skin raw and still leave dirt under fingernails.
6. Heating and cooling units. They beat chopping wood all winter and sweating all summer to pieces.
5. Running water. Need I say more?
4. The garden hose. As contrary and twisty these snaky green wonders can be, they are much better than packing pails of water hither and yon across the lawn.
3. Drain strainers. If you’ve ever poked a plumber’s snake down a bathtub drain, you know why this one’s on the list.
2. Gas and electric stoves. How did cooks in the olden days regulate the temperature to bake cookies and pies with a wood stove? That’s a skill I’m grateful not to have learned.
1. Window screens. Can you imagine the days before before air conditioning and window screens when people had two options in the heat of the summer? Open the windows to cool off the house and share your bedroom with hoards of skeeters, flies and other flying pests. Or shut the windows and cook all night in solitude. The thought makes me grateful every time I open the windows to let the breeze in our house.
What modern convenience do you not take for granted? Leave a comment.
Photo Credit: Gualberto107 at www.freedigitalphotos.net
