Hangers

Several alternate titles:
   The Trouble with Hangers
   Hangers Scare Me
   There's More to Hangers Than You Think
   Mommy Dearest

A day or two ago we had our guest/TV room, bedroom, and closet carpeting cleaned professionally. I'm way to old to rent a machine at Jewel and do it myself. I deserve to have clean carpets. Especially since Mariah, our cat, has gastrointestinal problems (she likes to vomit - hurl - give up the cookies when it comes to hair balls.)

While putting the closet (a huge walk in room, those of you who have seen it will understand) back in order, I took the occasion to make sure Gregory's clothes were in order. There were still a few summer shirts and slacks so I covered them in cleaner bags and hung them at the back. Then I "repaired" several of Gregory's "hanger faux pas."

We use three types of hangers, all white plastic. The light weight (LW) one is for shirts. Two of the light weight (2LW) ones are needed to hang the pants which are a little heavier than the shirts. The one with shoulder pads (SP) is for soft, stretchy shirts. The third is a heavy weight (HW) one for coats, winter bathrobes, etc. You can see that we have this all thought out.

My guess is that you just grab a hanger and hang things up without much thought. Chances are you grab the correct hanger for the job. It is always an interesting activity for me when I itemize the steps of the various activities in our daily life. Try it sometime. You'll be amazed.

Back to the hangers. Using one of the three types (and the doubling of one) should be easy for most people. Not for Gregory. He uses LW instead of 2LW for slacks and it breaks due to the weight. He uses LW instead of HW for heavy coats and they break too. Quantity wise, we have fewer SP and HW than LW. He uses SP to hang pants so we run out of them. He uses HW for shirts so we run out of them pretty quickly too.

For a while we had a system, invented by Gregory, which was to hang the hanger backwards on the rack as a signal that that piece of clothing had been previously worn. It was a hint that after a few wearings, the item should head to the laundry or cleaners.

This was very helpful because Gregory used to be so fastidiously careful about his clothing. For example, when he used to cook and wore an apron to protect his clothes, even the apron didn't get dirty! He has long forgotten that technique so periodically I go through his clothes and if the knees are baggy or the shirts stained or smelly, I send them on their way.

So this morning, as I was putting the closet in order after the carpet cleaning, I reorganized Gregory's use of hangers, checked to see what needed to be cleaned, and worried about the future.

As I have said before, I try not to worry too much about the future. Why waste good time while we have it. And things can (and do) always get worse, so why not enjoy today while you have it. But every now and then I allow myself a few minutes of worry and fear.

What will it be like when I have to lay out his clothes instead of just helping him choose one shirt over another? What will it be like when I have check after he has dressed himself that he remembered his underwear and sox? What will it be like when I have to dress him, button his buttons, and zip his fly? What will it be like when he will not have to get dressed because he will be in bed all day? What will it be like when I have to wipe his ass?

But enough. Today looks pretty good. Rearranging his hangers is no big deal. He made his own breakfast this morning (with a little help remembering what day it was.) It is snowing and we will decorate the condo for Christmas. Maybe we'll go out for a walk and then come home for some hot chocolate and cookies. These will be Happy Holidays for us. And hopefully for you as well.