I was hanging towels in my bathroom and was bowled over by a flash of insight. This involves a flashback, so hold on tight. Years ago my mother in law, your grandma, used to visit us once a year. We lived a thousand miles a way and grandma and grandpa would make the long drive and spend a week or more visiting us. The first thing grandma did when she set down her purse and hugged everyone was to roll up her sleeves and start doing my housework. I realize now I should have been grateful. What mother of 5 small little children couldn't use a hand?! Right? In the moment I felt angry and embarrassed. I thought her focusing the whole visit on cleaning my house was a commentary on my skill as a wife and mother. Instead of graciously accepting her help I struggled against her way of doing things and resented her advice. One thing that drove me crazy was how she folded the towels. I always folded them in squares. Why? I have no idea. Habit... My mother folds towels in squares... I believed they fit better in our tiny linen closet that way... Whatever the reason, I resisted her tutorial on folding towels in thirds the certain way she folded towels. I insisted that this was my laundry and I wanted it folded the way I wanted it folded. Period. End of laundry lesson.
Flash forward to Thursday. I took two SQUARE folded towels from the closet and took them to the bathroom where I unfolded them and then folded them in THIRDS so that two towels could fit on the towel rack side by side. Under my breath I mused to myself, "I should fold these in thirds when I put them away so I don't have to refold them when I.... HEY!" A picture formed in my imagination of grandma and I sitting on our old denim futon folding towels and my jaw clenched stubbornly as she ignored my square folding preference that I had just explained to her. Now I see her towel folding experience and wisdom. It only took me 20 years to catch the vision of her genius!
