Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Treat everyone like it’s their last day on earth.

You don’t know how what you have until it’s gone.

These oft-quoted sentiments express my feelings for something in my home that I have been taking for granted- until mid-June, that is.

My dishwasher.

The week before Father’s Day, our dishwasher decided it was tired of being a dishwasher. It was still running- but everything was coming out greasy and most definitely not clean. It was more like a dish-sprayer. It got the dishes dripping wet- and decided that’s all it needed to do! My husband is a big DIY guy and so he spent a couple evenings taking things apart and looking up videos on YouTube to try and diagnose the problem. He eventually narrowed it down to the part he was pretty sure was causing the issues, and looked it up online to find where we could purchase this specific part.

It was back-ordered. Until MID-JULY.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little teary at the thought. I think I was in denial- “No, it will come way before that, I’m sure they just say those kinds of things but I’m sure we’ll get it soon”.

Nope.

I know this makes me sound like the laziest person. What’s the big deal? People for centuries survived without a dishwasher. And it’s true. I actually didn’t hate not having my dishwasher as much as I thought I would hate it. Granted, when you have 7 people living in your home, 5 of which are tiny little humans who don’t think twice about using 5 cups in one hour, the stack of dishes can be a little daunting, and somewhat overwhelming at times.

But, it actually was a good experience for me. With the busyness of my life right now, I had let dishes slack on my to-do list way too often. And with not having a dishwasher, that just was not an option! I had to be diligent at washing (or at least rinsing) my dishes after every meal, or I would be stuck with a HUGE pile of old dishes with hard, caked-on food; and that definitely makes hand-washing take even longer. And so I got back in the habit of doing dishes multiple times a day, even if it was just rinsing them and putting them on the right side of our little kitchen sink.

I also spent lots of time listening to audiobooks. I am generally not an audiobook person. I homeschool, I have 5 small children- listening to a book is just hard for me to do, because I’m not generally in the car, nor is it usually quiet enough to listen to a story (unless I’m the one reading to my children….). However, knowing I had a pile of dishes to wash at night, I would put on a light-hearted audiobook and actually found joy in having some time to myself, just listening and washing dishes.

And how appropriate that right before Pioneer Day, I was washing dishes, old school, like a pioneer.

Luckily, happily, THANKFULLY, we now have a working dishwasher. The part did indeed come in mid-July, and my husband was able to pop it in place quickly.

And let me tell you, I have never been more grateful for my dishwasher. Sure, I hand-washed dishes as a newlywed, and a young mother with 2 children. Sure, I learned some things while not having my dishwasher. Sure, many people live their lives just fine without a dishwasher! It wasn’t the end of the world not having one!

But- I still love my dishwasher. I’m still REALLY grateful for mine. And I promise I’ll never take you for granted again! (*Walks over and kisses dishwasher*).

    Camille Hoffmann
    Monthly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! camille@dvo.com