Three things – no, actually it was four- transpired within days of each other which resulted in me ironing our king-sized top-sheet today. It was not unlike eating an elephant. (How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.) But once I decided to do it, there was nothing for it but to make it work. Why exactly did I do this?

1. I saw a Huffington Post article, “7 Skills Your Grandparents Had That You Don’t.” The photo that accompanied it was of a very old woman (probably my age – but that was ancient in the 1950’s) ironing. It was obviously written for a very young crowd because I know how to do everything, except on the list. (except haggling well)
2. Last week we spent the night in a sexy new hotel by Hyatt in downtown Austin. Our bed was as large as a small island, there was a plethora of pillows, and the sheets were good cotton, perfectly pressed. Heaven.
3. I saw a FB post by a friend asking,  “How do you fold a fitted sheet? I’m so frustrated.” I wondered what the response would be (I would have suggested youtube). What followed was really funny – only 2 people said look on youtube, the majority said, “Who cares?”  One braggard posted a photo of a wadded up sheet and said, “This is how i do it!”  The phrase that came to mind is: How you do one thing is how you do everything.
4. My sweetheart dried a set of our sheets on High a couple of days ago. When they came out of the dryer the top sheet was a wrinkled mess and the top hem and piping were crunched up. I looked at that and remembered those hotel sheets. And the little old lady ironing. And Mr. Sheet-wadder’s comment.

I got out my iron and ironing board and set to work.  That’s the thing with cotton sheets…they wrinkle until they’re old and worn, then they become silky and soft. Too bad our skin doesn’t do the same.  I miss the (dare I say, rough) texture of a line-dried towel and the crispness of the sheets. And they are never wrinkled and always smell great.

I don’t necessarily love ironing, but the process was very Zen-like. Be here now. God is in the details. Just 15 minutes later the sheet was a thing of beauty. I felt a sense of accomplishment. You, sheet-wadder, take that!  I look forward to using my freshly-pressed sheets. Too bad I don’t have time to change them now.

XO Donna