Monday

Today's post is dedicated to forgotten clothes. Today I realized I left my dry cleaning hanging in a little plastic bag in the room where I stayed last week. But that's the punch line. Lately, rebelling against living out of a bag all the time, I've been packing the trunk of the car with my laundry basket when I travel. It's very convenient, and keeps my shirts flatter than those times when I have to roll them into a tight little wad to cram into my duffel. But even folded neatly, many of my favorites were badly wrinkled when I arrived in North Carolina for my recent vacation. So, despite the fact that my clothes were all clean, I took everything, excepting the clothes on my back, to the dry cleaners to be pressed. Pretty smart, huh? That was two Thursdays ago. I couldn't retrieve them that Friday. Saturday, the cleaners closed at four, something I eventually realized during a nice late lunch at First Carolina Deli. Sunday, the place was closed all day. See where this is going? Monday I was supposed to get my driver's license, but got a late start and didn't actually manage to get to the NC DMV building until Tuesday afternoon. I also finally remembered to get my nicely pressed clothes that day, too. Until then, I'd been switching between the same two pairs of pants. My scheme to have crisply starched clothing had kept me in dirty laundry all week. Wednesday was the first opportunity I had to access the things I'd paid twenty bucks to wear. I left for DC again on Thursday. I'd worn exactly one clean item. I guess I don't even have to pack now when I return to NC in just under two weeks. But still. [Cavin]