
This story isn’t as funny as the one about little green moldy dots on my tortillas, but it still makes me smile every time I think about it.
When I’m at the Angels’ house, they love to assist me as I unpack my suitcase because they know I always bring presents. In fact, T “helpfully” carries the heavy one for me and C drags my smaller bag–anything to hurry up and reveal the goodies.
Angel Boy 2.0 says,
“We helped Mommy make the bed for you. Wait a minute Grandma, I forgot something!”
As he runs up the stairs, it’s easy to follow exactly where he is because I can hear dinosaur-like stomps on the way back down.
He hands me a giant bath towel. “Here, Grandma, feel THIS! It’s so soft, right?”
“THIS is the way towels are supposed to feel, not crunchy like at your house. Isn’t that nice and soft? Mommy does it the right way. Feel it again.”
I hear Mom laughing in the kitchen, and my own Angel Boy snickering in the dining room. Ha ha. (Let’s just see if they get THEIR presents I so carefully packed.)
Rewind back to their previous visit to Casa de Enchanted Seashells…
“Grandma, not AGAIN! Why are your towels so crunchy?”
“What are you talking about, T?”
“How do you wash your towels? Do you use the same stuff that we do?”
I know exactly where he was headed with this line of questioning, but I’m gonna let him continue, because 1. He’s adorable and so earnest and 2. He sounds exactly like a lawyer, maybe unconsciously channeling his great-grandpa.
“I think I use different detergent than you use at your house, my darling.”
“Do you use softener and put them in the dryer?”
“Nope, I don’t. You know I hang all my laundry out in the garden on clotheslines, right? I think the sun is especially good for towels and sheets. It’s solar power. I use the power of the sun and the wind to dry everything, unless it’s raining, of course.”
“WHY? But, Grandma”, and here he uses his hands to illustrate his point, “It makes them so crunchy and rough. I don’t like them that way. I like soft towels like at home.”
“Think about this, though. This is how Daddy’s towels always were and he didn’t complain about the way they feel.”
“DADDY GRANDMA SAYS YOUR TOWELS WERE ALWAYS CRUNCHY WHEN YOU WERE A LITTLE BOY! REALLY?”
More snickering, and then, “Yes, T, Grandma always hangs clothes in the sun.”
T shakes his head in outrage at the apparent abuse his dad suffered as a child. He can’t fathom a world where towels are scratchy.
“Hey, you guys. Would you like it if I put the towels in the dryer for a while?”
“I do, We do. Come on, Grandma, do it our way.”
“OK, my little buddy, if it means a lot to you, I’ll soften them up in the dryer and they’ll be nice and warm for you and C after your bath.”
Am I the only one who still hangs laundry outside on a line? I admit that my towels are “crunchy” because they hang out in the sun until they dry. That’s actually the way I like them, ‘cos it’s like a loofah, but I can see his point.
Those children are priceless.