A Slippery Slope

img_1840

You know how people joke about swiping everything free from hotels?  Well, I am among those who “avail themselves.”  At our first time in a hotel together within minutes I’d managed to swoop up all the fancy toiletries and stuff them in my suitcase.  Poor Burk had no idea.  I’ll never forget he came out of this big beautiful bathroom with plumes of steam billowing out and I could hear the shower running in the background.  Clutching a towel around his waist with his eyes squeezed shut, water was dripping from his hair and onto the marble floor.  “Baby Doll,” he said to the room in general, “This must not be a very good hotel.  There’s no soap anywhere!”  I sat on the bed striving not to look guilty; fortunately he had his eyes closed.  After telling him I would request more I got discovered.  He demanded I give some up that instant.  So I called down and got extra to take one of each home.  By now the poor man knows my peccadillo.  I have shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and lotions from every place we have ever traveled.  They are arranged in chronological order under one of our bathroom cabinets.  When I manage to acquire extra I sometimes put them in our guest bathroom or I will bring them on future trips so as not to use the ones I intend on procuring.  The American author John Steinbeck once said, “Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased.”  In a way my collection of tiny toiletries help bring those places back for me.  They are part of my remembrances.  I am limiting myself, though; it can be a slippery slope.

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *