And You Always Will

I opened the dishtowel drawer for about the sixth time, hoping the towels had somehow magically appeared.

After the funeral was over and my father�s relatives had gone home, I found the dishtowels. Mom had put them in her dresser drawer. And with several washings, the stain finally came out of the tablecloth. Dad had been able to fix the vacuum cleaner too.Except. . .why did it sound so funny? And why wasn�t it picking up those bits of paper on the living room carpeting?What next?�And you know what?� Dad continued. �You always WILL miss your mother. In fact, it won�t ever go away completely. Not even when you�re as old as me.�Okay, so maybe I wasn't going to find them. Then again, the guests wouldn�t arrive until tomorrow. Plenty of time to worry about dishtowels later.And right then and there, I started to cry. Now what was I going to do? Would a wire hanger work? Thirty minutes later, however, the vacuum cleaner was still plugged.�What�s wrong?� he asked, noticing that I had been crying.On second thought, maybe I ought to forget about the towels all together. My father�s niece and her husband didn�t seem like the kind of people who would leave in a huff because their host hadn�t put out new dishtowels.Window treatment ideas aren't always about curtains. The once popular wooden window blinds are making a comeback with people who prefer the warm, natural tones of wood to go with a wide variety of d�cors. Antique folding window covers can be had for a song at garage and auction sales, then refinished, and if you are artistic at all, decorated with tole paintings.Just at that moment, my father came into the house.�Oh, Daddy � I can�t find the new dishtowels. The tablecloth has a big stain. The vacuum cleaner is plugged. And�"Small changes such as placing embroidered cushions on chairs or changing the colour and textiles used for tablecloths, can change your restaurants feel thus enhancing a customer�s dining experience.Where was Dad? I knew he�d gone outside and was probably puttering around in his garden, seeing as it was the middle of April, but why wasn�t he in here when I needed him? After being a farmer for 50 years, he could fix absolutely anything.The brand new towels still weren�t there, of course.But with this in mind, make sure the changes you decide to make are achievable for your given timescale and budget. If you cannot afford to completely redecorate, giving the dining area a quick face lift will also do the job. A coat of paint, new wallpaper and some original artwork can help give an old looking room a new lease of life.Perhaps I�d better see if I could lay my hands on Mom�s best tablecloth. A tablecloth had always been one of the things my mother insisted upon when we had company.I stopped and swallowed hard.The right decor in a restaurant can help transport the customer to a place away from reality, where they can relax and enjoy their meal. This is even more likely if the decor chosen is in accordance with the type of food being served. A restaurant's new design needs to be attractive to customers both old and new, if your restaurant caters for young children, it probably isn't wise to have white silk tablecloths.Oh yes, that�s right. We�d all been here for Christmas, and one of the kids had accidentally knocked over a glass of soda pop. The sight of her grandchild sobbing with remorse had been more important than the tablecloth, and Mom had said she was sure the pop would come out when she washed it.As Dad gazed at me, I noticed how much he seemed to have aged in the last few weeks. And his face was covered with silvery stubble. It was a rare morning when my father didn�t shave, but then, the past couple of days had been far from ordinary.I pulled out the attachments hose and flipped the switch again. Ah-ha. That�s why. No suction. The hose was plugged.Dad was 70. I was 26. I never knew Dad's mother. She had died before I was born.Your window treatment ideas are limited only by your imagination, and the time you have to spend decorating. Some of the most interesting and attractive looks are born from using leftovers, cast-offs and your own ingenuity.How about recycling old items? If you inherited lace tablecloths that are no longer fresh and white, you can still get a lot of mileage and an interesting antique window treatment, by using a sewing machine to turn the tablecloths into window curtain panels. You might even have some old lace curtains on hand, that need to be brightened, but the bleaches have failed you.Although it had been years since I called him �Daddy,� it just sort of slipped out, and along with it came more tears.Satisfied that I was finally going to make some progress, I got out the vacuum cleaner.I went to the drawer where Mom kept her tablecloths, and sure enough, there it was.I knew they had to be around somewhere because I had given them to her for Christmas only a few months ago. Not that the towels were so terribly important. It�s just that when you�re expecting guests, you�d kind of like everything to look nice.But when I pulled out the hand-embroidered tablecloth, the one that it had taken her months to complete, I gasped in dismay. Right in the middle was a big stain. Now how in the world did Mom�s best tablecloth end up with a stain?�What did Mom DO with them?� I wondered aloud.**********************You see, only three weeks earlier, my mother had been diagnosed with advanced gallbladder cancer. Mom died Saturday night, and this was Monday. My father�s niece and her husband were driving 275 miles to attend the funeral, and they would be staying at the house.And in that instant, the whole world seemed to stop while Dad drew a deep breath and let it out slowly.No matter what type or restaurant you have it is crucial to keep in mind the type of atmosphere you want your customer to feel, because the more comfortable they feel, the more likely they are to return.Well, of COURSE the hose was plugged. I couldn�t find the new dishtowels. Mom�s best tablecloth had a big stain. Why wouldn't the vacuum cleaner hose be plugged?

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Author: LeAnn R. Ralph