As the mother of a boy, I’m always in training mode. Honestly,
there are some things that girls just
”
get.
”
Things that don’t have to be taught. Things like shoe
shopping.
As the mother of a boy, I’m always in training mode. Honestly, there are some things that girls just “get.” Things that don’t have to be taught. Things like shoe shopping.
Girls get shoe shopping. Girls like lots of shoes in their closets. Boys could care less. Frankly, as long as Junior has a pair of sneakers, he’s a happy little dude. He doesn’t need dozens of shoes for dozens of outfits. He doesn’t even need dozens of outfits. He just needs a couple shirts, some clean underwear and he’s set.
But girls are born knowing that true satisfaction comes from having sneakers in a variety of colors and styles. We understand that. And that’s why girls “get” guest towels.
Every woman has her own guest towel horror story. Look, I grew up with all girls. From birth we understood that the pretty towels hanging in the bathroom were not to be used under any circumstances.
Even if someone was bleeding right next to the rack of lovely, never used towels, we were not to touch them. We were to use the ugly, regular towels we used every day.
Women also understand that only a certain class of guest is allowed to touch the sacred towels. For example, no guest under 16 or who shares your last name should touch a guest towel. In some houses, only visiting royalty is allowed to touch the guest towels.
And that’s how it should be – well, maybe the royalty rule is a bit extreme.
Of course, men have horror stories too. But those stories mainly concern the wrath that was heaped upon them every time they dared to touch a guest towel. Trust me. I’ve been there. Hell hath no fury like a woman whose guest towels have been violated.
For Harry, he saw the fury unleashed right after our honeymoon. I hung up some gorgeous towels in the master bathroom. Let me tell you, those towels were yummy. Miraculously,
those towels even managed to make the hideous wallpaper look decent. I loved those towels.
And then Harry committed an unpardonable sin. He used them.
I watched as my new husband got out of the shower, took the neatly folded guest towel off the rack and used it to dry his body. I was shocked. What kind of knuckle dragging, Neanderthal had I married? Didn’t he know that guest towels were only to be used by guests?
Apparently not. You see, in Harry’s childhood home, there were no guest towels. Yes, it’s hard to believe, but he grew up in a home where you could use any towel at all. And that’s why he was surprised when I went nuts after he dried off with the guest towel.
At first, he fought back. He wanted to know why on earth there were guest towels in a bathroom that wasn’t even the guest bathroom. But he soon gave up. There’s just no fighting the guest towel rule.
At least, there’s no fighting it in my house.
Look, come in with muddy shoes, I might get a little peeved. Don’t scrape your plate before putting it on the dishwasher – hey, I can handle that. But don’t use my pretty guest towels. Ever.
Even Junior is being trained. Okay, I’ve had to give in a bit. I mean, poor Junior was getting a little neurotic about it – even advising his friends never to touch the towels, ever or his mom would go crazy. So I put these nice, dark blue towels on the rack and I told Junior he could touch those.
Heck, he and his friends could even use those towels to dry their hands. Look, I know I caved. I know that by letting Junior use the towels in the bathroom, I was setting my future daughter-in-law up for a shock after the honeymoon.
But let’s face it. At least my son was washing his hands. Sometimes, you have to take your successes and run with them. Of course, I did leave one nice towel neatly folded on the counter. And Junior understands not to touch it under any circumstances.
A girl just has to have guest towels. Or at least, this girl does.
