The Useful Dishtowel

I was ever so surprised to receive these beautiful embroidered dishtowels from my mom for Christmas. She has made many handmade gifts and memories for me over the years. She will be 80 the end of March and my first thought was to keep these towels for "special times". I can remember the first set she made me, and it was not my birthday or Christmas. Unfortunately they have gone by the wayside, holey & worn out. She gave them to me one day when I was feeling kinda overwhelmed with life, raising babies, no money to buy myself anything special. She said her mom gave her these things from time to time for no real reason . Things that "she could use" that perhaps she could not afford, and she knew I could use these. They not only made me feel special they brightened my mood when I took them out of the linen drawer and use them in my kitchen. I used them mostly for holiday time or when I had company (to show them off giving them proper respect, you know how you do that too ) but I eventually used those towels for more than dishes. They made a great seat belt when my babies were old enough to sit at the big dinner table and needed support to sit there in their high chair (because the belt had broken) and haircutting capes around their necks when I cut their hair. I even used them for almost everything in an emergency when you just grab a towel. I know they were used to cover bread while it cooled right from the oven. They slowly became stained with food, grease, even Easter egg dye, paint, blood, sweat & tears. Eventually they went to the garage as rags for other messy cleanups. I better not put these away in the linen drawer for she told me to "use them." I think my mom knows best and they are very useful, I will be careful so they will stay pretty and now that the kids have grown up and moved away they may not get stained so quickly. Maybe I will even embroider some memories for them someday too.