The Laundry Mat Chronicles: Volume One

Prior to moving out, I'd never been to a laundry mat. In fact, the only image I've ever had is this scene (it's 1:27 in):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2UeOh5ngSw

So, imagine my surprise when there is no hot guy. Instead, I get this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny8VqcEe7dw

Needless to say, I shove my unmentionables down to the very bottom of my laundry basket.

However, I met a very interesting person today. Relax, it was a sixty-one year old lady named Sarah. Sarah has two daughters and three grandchildren. She has been a widow for thirty-four years and never remarried. I knew Sarah prior to today. Well, I didn't know-know her. She and her sister frequented Old Navy during my three and a half years there (Her sister was my substitute Spanish teacher one day. Her Spanish? "Hola Y'all!" I am not even kidding). In the sixty minutes I was there, I learned that she had dated quite a few S.O.B's- her words. However, this morning she received a phone call from a gentleman who works at the produce stand she visits for her tomatoes, cantelope, and cucumbers. In a matter of seconds, the sixty-one year old lady transformed into a sixteen year old girl. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. I'm pretty positive she was blushing too. She was optimistic about this man. She asked if I liked her hair (she recently dyed it) and what I thought she should wear. "Well, I'll tell ya one thing...I'm not gonna wear heels for a man. That'll be the only time he'll see me in them. He better get used to my flip flops and run-arounds."

She finished her laundry before I did and wished me the best of luck with my schooling and with my (non-existent) love life. She had hope, at sixty-one, in finding the man she wanted to live with for the rest of her life. Why, at twenty-one, should I feel any different?