On the proper way to fold a towel

I used to clean house for a family who operated a dairy farm. They had 5 children and she taught them at home. Great kids. Great family. Often when I came to clean their house, the kids were outside messing about with their horses or helping dad with chores, or just playing. But not always. Occasionally, she allowed them to watch VeggieTales videos to help keep them out of the way as I went about my work. For the initiated, these videos feature talking vegetables. One video, which I began enjoying very much, featured Larry the Cucumber singing “silly songs.”

Every time my beloved and I have what seems to me to be a silly conversation, I think of this video, for some reason. The lovely woman who writes Still Waters blogged about a conversation she had with her husband when he helped out but didn’t do it quite right.

I helped my husband with the laundry the other day and also did not do it quite right. Just like there is a right way and a wrong way to hang the toilet paper – and I, of course, have always hung it the wrong way says my father and my husband – I have now learned there is also a right and a wrong way to fold a kitchen hand towel.

He came in my office as I was working away on the computer to carefully explain to me that if one first folds the towel in half by bringing the edges of the “long side” together, and then folds it in half at the middle, all one has to do is unfold it once, and it is ready to hang over the oven door handle, which is where all of the kitchen hand towels hang because our kitchen is too small to have proper hangers for the towels.

I, of course had not folded it that way. I brought the short ends together first and then folded it over, which meant he had to unfold the entire towel and refold it in order to hang it.

I thought very carefully for a second or two before I said the first 10 thoughts that popped into my mind to this sweet man who has done such a wonderful job helping with the housework.

I took a very deep breath.

I can see why folding it your way is a good idea. I will try to remember that the next time I fold the clothes.

And I smiled and went back to work.