We attended a very important wedding last week. The best friend of our older daughter who passed away got married. Our daughter would've been 20 in June and this young woman will be turning that age in October. It was a lovely wedding, she was stunningly beautiful and although watching her walk down the aisle tugged at my heart strings I was not as emotional as I thought I would be. We did however, want to give this young woman and her new husband something extremely special, something that would reflect the very dear place she has in our hearts.
I did go to several stores searching for the perfect gift but I realized nothing would really fill the bill. Because of her relationship with our daughter we really wanted to give her something that was a family legacy or inheritance. And then I thought back 26 years and realized the idea for the perfect gift was under our nose the whole time.
When my husband and I got married we were given a very unique gift and along with it a newspaper article explaining the gift. I lost that original article years ago so decided to write a story based on our personal experience that has a similar flavour to what I remember. I placed this story in with the gift.
The Gaudy Towel – A Family Legacy & Inheritance
At one of the showers held before our wedding my fiancée handed me one of the carefully wrapped gifts. I tore off the paper to find a rather large and shockingly bright purple towel. I was more than a little perplexed and I suspect that I had a rather horrified look on my face as I stared in disbelief at this particular endowment. Purple was definitely not an “in” colour at that time and what was even more confusing was that this had come from a well-respected family friend who knew my green and cream bathroom decorating plans. I was quite frankly horrified at her lack of taste but smiled and nodded my thanks. She looked at me across the room and smiled knowingly, “Don’t worry you’ll find a use for it.” I truly thought that she had gone off her rocker.
The towel was moved with the rest of our shower and wedding gifts into our new apartment. I put the bright monstrosity on the bottom of the linen closet underneath all of my nice new plush matching bath sheets. I even remember feeling a little hurt that my friend could have miscalculated so badly in her choice of a gift.
Two months later my husband got up in the middle of the night, went to the washroom and flushed the toilet. It started to overflow and before he could stop it some of the water cascaded onto the bathroom floor. His yelling for me to get a towel brought me out of my sleep and I bounded up out of our warm bed and yanked open the linen closet. The thought of using one of my gorgeous new towels to sop up the mess was nauseating. Then I remembered the purple towel.
It did the job it was needed for very effectively and I remember saying to my husband rather sarcastically that my friend would have been horrified it she had known what we had used her “precious” towel for. The next day I thought about tossing the hideous thing out altogether but somehow it found its way to the washing machine and back into the bottom of the linen closet.
The next time I thought of the purple towel was when the cat threw up a hairball and we were all out of paper towels. The mess was cleaned up easily and I again thought about my friend. The towel got washed and was put back into the bottom of the closet. Over the next few years it made its appearance when we washed and buffed the car, served as a blanket on the beach and generally always proved to be around whenever there was a messy emergency of some kind. Each time we used it I thought of my friend.
After we had children we found many more uses for the gaudy towel. Always ready and willing, it wiped up accidents and messes, got set on the back seat of the car when bathing suits had wet sandy bums, dried wet dogs and was used as a hobo sack on a stick for dress up. No longer a screaming bright colour by this time, our towel began to look more like an old wrinkled grape that suffered from at least one bleach spot and a couple of dark stains. Around this time I began to think that there might be something really special about this unusual gift. So many of the other wedding presents we had received sat in the back of cupboards and if you asked me who gave us something I couldn’t have told you. Our gaudy towel however was always handy and in use, always in “bad” style, and it never failed to make me think of my friend. This was especially important because by that time she had passed away.
When we hosted our own twenty-fifth wedding anniversary dinner and dance I packed up our now rather threadbare and thin faded purple friend into the car along with the paper plates and other items for the party. I knew that I could depend on it should it be needed. Several months later the towel got its first hole and then another appeared and another so I finally tore the cloth into pieces and put it into the rag bag for use when painting or cleaning.
The next time we had a large spill I stood in front of the linen closet and did not know what to do, which towel to grab. In the end I used the oldest towel I could find but it just wasn’t the same and I swear it didn’t work as well as our old faithful companion had. Later that day I determined to set out and acquire another resident for our linen closet, something really hideous to take the place of our friend’s precious gift. My search took some time but I was finally successful in finding a rather grotesque multi-coloured towel that didn’t match anything that we had. It brought me the greatest pleasure to fold this bright new eyesore and put it under all of the plush matching bath sheets and towels.
Today I know and understand the true value of the simple gift that we were bestowed with. It may have only been a piece of cloth but it was filled with wisdom and love. Truly it was a legacy that kept on giving and giving. So today on your wedding day we want to pass on this special family inheritance and story on to you.
Within this wrapping you will find a new specially selected gaudy towel. May it be a colour and design that is horrendously ugly to you and we hope that it does not match anything you have or like. May it serve you well and be there for you whenever you need it. May you always remember that woven into the fabric is the love and special place we hold for you in our hearts.
Salynne ©2009
Awww..that was beautiful! I hope one day I too will get that same special gift from you as that towel served its purpose as you always remembered your friend. I hope that I will remember this story... Sounds like the perfect gift.
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