Does anybody besides me still do all their dishes by hand? I have never owned a dishwasher. Growing up dad always said my sister and I were the dishwashers. (Although Mom almost always did them and we dried – she didn’t want us splashing water on the windowsill) I’ve lived in my home for 25 years now and there just is no place to install a dishwasher. I have a small kitchen with limited cupboard space and I am just not willing to give up any of the space I do have for a dishwasher. There have been times when I would have appreciated having one. Especially when I had three kids at home who were very active in numerous different activities and I was working 40 hours a week. Now, I don’t mind doing the dishes by hand. It gives me a time to slow down, think about my day, reflect on things. Doing the dishes by hand is kind of like hanging the laundry out on the line – both chores connect me to my mom, my grandmothers and great-grandmothers. These chores of mine are the exact same chores they had to do. I love thinking that way. It makes me feel connected to the women in my life – the ones I still have with me and those that are gone. I love that I have a window in front of my sink. I can look outside and watch the kids play and see if Joe is coming down the road. I watch the weather and the kittens play. I’ve spent many hours standing in front of this window dreaming away!