The other day, after dropping the kids off at Albuquerque Sunport, we decided to spend the night in a motel and go home the next day after our car was fixed. Everything went well, we did a little shopping, the car was repaired, and we were home before dark.
The next morning, with a sigh of satisfaction, Tom began to pull his "treasures from the motel" out of his overnight bag. The bags of coffee--regular and decaf--I suppose we can use in an emergency if we run out. Tea comes in handy, even if it's generic. Soap still in its wrapper and the little shampoo bottles, unopened can go in the Airstream trailer when we travel, I admit. I suppose we can always use chopsticks since there are websites devoted to nifty ways to use chopsticks. But the three paper cups and three plastic cups still in their wrappers? Don't we have enough glasses here? The cheap little pad and pen from the overnight table? How many of those do we have? The unwrapped plasticware set from our Chinese take out, complete with napkin?
You would think we were terribly poor, the way Tom collects this stuff. "Hey, we paid for it," is his defense.
Fortunately he never takes towels or we would be charged for them. And we never stay in places where they offer you a complimentary plush terrycloth robe. Thank goodness! (But when I travel alone, I like those places--- our little secret, okay.)
What about the Gideon Bible in the drawer? "Already got one---and besides, they want you to take those," was his cool reply.
Tom seemed so pleased with his "treasures," so I will probably wait a couple weeks before quietly throwing them out. Or maybe I can use those cups to start some seedlings. And I'll pop the plastic forks in the trailer, too.
You never know when you might need those things.
