ME AND MY TOWELS

The contrast between the white facecloth and the gray towels!

I’ve had a thing about towels since I was thirteen and became responsible for the laundry. After our house burned, we had donations, piles of donations, of clothing, dishes, and towels, among other things. I’d go to the Laundromat and wash my thin little towels as best I could. Some had the nap mostly worn off; a few were newer, but none were plush and soft.

I so remember watching a young woman wash piles of soft plush towels, bright, colorful towels at the Laundromat one day. I commented, “You really have pretty towels.”

“Thank you. They were wedding presents,” she replied.

While we folded clothes, the young bride and the thirteen-year-old had a casual conversation about how long she’d been married, etc. I listened to her talk about the wedding, but mostly, I was envying her towels.

Sure enough when I got married nearly ten years later, among our wedding presents were soft plush towels. Now I could go to the Laundromat and fold my beautiful towels with pride. What can I say? It was a symbol for me, a sign that I was moving up in the world. Since then, I’ve been delighted every time we redecorate a bathroom and buy a new set of soft plush towels.

Somewhere in the eighties, I discovered bath sheets, those wonderfully huge oversized towels that one can wrap up in after a long bath or hot shower. Although they cost more, I stock bath sheets in my bathrooms. The expense is mitigated by the longevity of such luxurious towels. The white ones in my guest bathroom have survived two re-decorations of the room. They are huge, soft, beautiful and white.

Alas one out of four is now white. The other three are a dull gray. They were purchased for my bright green and chrome décor in 1999; they survived the more recent redo with seafoam green and soft blue décor in 2008. They have not survived my last adventure in hospitality and, apparently, regular washing in the machine with blue jeans!! My gorgeous white towels and blue jeans!!! I’m mourning the loss of my beautiful white bath sheets, while still working one last time to see if the miracle of Oxyclean will revive them.

Sigh! The things one learns, even at my age.