Photo: Muriel de Sezel (modified)
Now where was I?
Actually, I know exactly where I left off nearly two years ago... talking about washing my clothes with my dad in a laundromat.
It was part 1 of what was going to be a 3-part series called: Laundromat Diaries.
Ambitious? Perhaps. But practical? Not for someone who's great at starting things but lousy at finishing them.
Truth is, I'm lazy.
And it takes a lot of motivation to "wrap things up" when I'm already delving into the next thing that piques my interest. Hence the title of this blog: "Here and Next."
That said, "Here" is...
Laundromat Diaries & Origami Sheets (Entry: 2)
Dear Diary,
For a small person, I need a lot of space.
Always have, always will.
Must have something to do with the planets and their alignment in the sky at the time of my birth, with Jupiter, the planet of expansion and largeness prominently placed on my natal chart, in my 4th house.
Seriously.
And I was also quite serious, when just after a year of marriage, I told Michael, "I need more space."
Not in our relationship, but in bed.
Nothing kinky.
It's just that soon after Michael, my jack-of-all trades hubby, built us this amazing white, minimalist, modern-looking full-size platform bed, I knew...
It needed to be king-size.
Again, small person in need of vast space.
And I told him this. Often.
But it wasn't words that finally convinced him, but a picture. A life-sized, abstract, black charcoal drawing that I did "a la" Henry Moore... of 2 faceless human figures: one male, one female, lying cramped together in what resembled a box-like coffin.
Sort of blocky like this...
Henry Moore "Three Figures With Children"
But conveying more emotion like this...
Henry Moore "Pink and Green Sleepers"
He got the picture.
And...
I got my king-size bed...
Along with a new set of sheets that according to the label needed to be laundered before using, which explains why we were in a laundromat.
What's hard to explain... is the difficulty we had once our sheets were washed, dried, and ready to be folded.
The fitted sheet with its scrunched-up elastic edging, and nearly double the size of our previous full set, was impossible to fold. No matter how many times we tried together, to produce a tightly-wrapped bundle, we ended up with the same jumbled ball.
Comical? Pathetic?
Who knows how we appeared to a motherly woman waiting for her clothes to dry, who approached us and without a word: took our sheet, placed it on a nearby folding table, and began demonstrating, step-by-step, her method for taming this beast.
And if you've ever watched an American flag being folded into a perfect triangle, you'd understand the similar care and precision this woman executed in folding our sheet into a perfect rectangle.
The woman was an origami master!
To this day, I still fold my fitted sheets, now somewhat masterfully, using her U-fold or horseshoe technique.
And to this day, we still lay? or lie? (grammar I've never quite mastered) on the original wooden, king-size bed that my husband built.
Ahh... the kindness of strangers... and lovers, too!
If interested:
View a method for folding a fitted sheet similar to the one I was shown here.
Watch a more complicated folding technique demonstrated on Martha Stewart's show here. Listen as Martha adds, "For those who are still fitted sheet impaired, just wash them, dry them, and put them right back on the bed." Ha!
For something even funnier, but totally impractical, watch Terri Metz fold her fitted sheet here.
And if you missed Laundromat Diaries & Suds (Entry: 1) you can read it here.
Coming soon (maybe)... Laundromat Diaries Part 3
Until Next We Meet
at
"Here and Next"
XOX... Dyan