I remember when our family first got a cloths dryer. I was only a child. I don't actually remember getting the dryer, but I do remember how soft the dryer- dried towels were. My sister and I loved them.

But my mother continued to sun-dry all our laundry when ever she could. She said that she preferred the way they smelled; that they smelled fresher. We have a air-drying rack in the bathroom – the drier sits where the tub will one day go, so I guess it should be called a showerroom – and Michele uses it to dry a variety of delicates. As an expeariment, I dried my towel on it.

THE towel dried stiff, but – using it – that stiff towel brought back a flood of comforting childhood memories. Not specific memories but very strong, generalized, memories of being young. I am sort of shocked at how much memory came from just rubbing the towel on my body.