Kate’s Stockings

In Mom’s report of her trip to Mérida with my Aunt Becky in 1986, she wrote:

There was no hot water; there was no stopper in the sink; and they did not give me the plastic basin I requested for washing my stockings.

Mom was hospitalized for thrombophlebitis in 1975 while visiting cousins in Saginaw. Thereafter, she had to wear custom-fit elastic compression stockings to assist blood circulation.

When Mom traveled, washing her stockings at the end of each day could pose a challenge. She needed:

• A basin with stopper (or alternative container) where she could soak, wash, and rinse the stockings

• An extra towel in which to wrap the wet stockings to absorb the excess water

• A place to hang the damp stockings, in hopes that they would dry overnight