My mother had some sheets in the linen closet that sat forever on a shelf with a pink ribbon tied around them. I remember seeing them there both as a young child and later when I was old enough to make my own bed. They had been a wedding present from some relative of her mother's, and certainly she thought they were very special.
My dad used to joke that she was keeping them for her second husband. He was a great one for teasing. Still, there the sheets stayed on the shelf until they became antiques. I have often puzzled over the whys and wherefores of those sheets. Now I have to wonder what my mother was afraid to risk by taking off the ribbons and actually putting the sheets to use?
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