#82

i was just changing the sheets on our bed - seriously one of my most favorite activities - and i realize that i've had these particular sheets since i lived in LA. which means since at least 1997. they are incredibly soft not because of the quality but because they are completely threadbare. when i was making the bed, i could see through them.

i know that i have had them since i lived in LA because there is a tiny stamp on the bottom left hand corner from the laundry we would go to on pico boulevard. growing up, all of our sheets had this stamp on the bottom left corner - TMO, i have no idea why.

on the weekends, when i was really little, before my dad started spending saturdays with THE CHARACTER at his flute lessons, maybe even before THE CHARACTER made his debut, my dad and i would run errands together. i only remember two stops - winchells for donuts and the laundry. we would park in the back alley and go through the back door. we'd squeeze passed other people's shirts and bedspreads and i remember thinking that one day i'd have a big comforter with pink and purple flowers all my own. at the front my dad would place me on the counter and i'd kick my feet against the wood paneling while he spoke with the small chinese woman who owned the laundry. we'd pick up our sheets and my dad's shirts for work, folded perfectly around pieces of cardboard that i would later use for my various art projects.

the laundry smelled like baby powder and gasoline - i wish my sheets still smelled that way.