Aprons had infinite numbers of uses

A friend recently sent me a clipping about the history of aprons, stating that most of our children wouldn’t even know what an apron is!
A dear aunt. Aunt Marilyn, my dad’s sister, was very dear to us. My sisters and I recall that every single day, Aunt Marilyn dressed in what was then known as a “house dress” with a kitchen apron over top.
A wonderful seamstress, Aunt Marilyn made both the dresses and the aprons she wore. I remember the hook where she hung the apron at the end of a long day in the kitchen.
I remembered thinking that our dear aunt must certainly be very old, because she had no interests other than baking and making us happy. It seemed that she lived in her big country kitchen, and she always wanted to share her latest recipe with us.
Aunt Marilyn often would dampen a corner of her apron to wipe my dirty face after I had enjoyed some of her frosted cookies, fresh and warm and wonderful.
The first day I ever saw our aunt lying on the couch, I suddenly realized she was not wearing an apron. I wondered what was wrong, and she changed the subject, asking me what I would like for my upcoming birthday. I was about to turn 11, and I remember telling her that with all my heart I wanted a pet monkey.
She didn’t laugh at my crazy desire as others did, but simply smiled and said maybe I ought to think of a second wish. Aunt Marilyn had just turned 36 a few months earlier, and it was to be her last birthday with us.
The apron. In the clipping, written by an anonymous author, it is noted:
“The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
“When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
“From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
Purposeful. “When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
“It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.”