dishwashing

So Chris went back to work Friday night after his 3 day stretch, and as I was trying to reclaim the kitchen (I still can't understand the destruction he can cause in there in such a short time frame) and loading the dishwasher to the max twice!!! I realized that a dishwasher in my house is no longer a luxury it is an absolute necessity!!!

I know that may sound a little strange, but to be honest I've never really cared before if I had a dishwasher...

I grew up in a household that had a dishwasher that was never used! I'm dead serious, my parents insisted that someone hand wash or dry the dishes with them every night. Looking back I'm sure it was a ploy to get us to stand still and talk to them for half an hour. It used to drive me up the wall. Everyone I knew, had to load or unload a dishwasher as part of their chores, but my parents were so "OLD FASHION" and "mean" that they made us do it by hand. I never really understood. After I moved out my Dad actually replaced the dishwasher because it leaked every time he did use it (funny how when your slave labor moves out you start using the dishwasher...lol) I figured out a couple of years later that it was probably leaking because the seals had all dried out from lack of use...A little Ironic??? You replace an almost new (or a least barely used) dishwasher, because you didn't use it!

Then when I moved out, I was always in an apartment or even my townhouse that never had dishwashers, so I continued to wash by hand and never really thought much of it. I mean it honestly took me a week to fill a sink full of dishes if I left them. I figured it would probably take me a month to get enough dishes to fill the dishwasher! So I never worried about it, and always considered buying a dishwasher a low priority.
But now...
I mean come on!
All the dishes were washed and ready to go when Chris came home from work. Then after 3 days, my cupboards were bare and every single dish had been used and left in the sink! Everything! How is it possible to go through that many dishes, and require 2 loads after 3 days??? I so don't get it! Like I said a dishwasher is now a necessity and no longer a luxury.

We actually didn't have one in the crappy apartment we rented in Calgary for those 2 months. hmmm...maybe that's why we only lasted in Calgary for 2 months???