Decades ago, a friend who had been married for perhaps 2-3 years told me about a fight he and his wife had had.

While his wife was away for a weekend, he had done a couple of loads of laundry, specifically sheets and towels. He folded everything and put it all away in the linen closet. 

Later, when his wife saw how he had put the sheets and towels away, she corrected him. Apparently, he had put the folded edges facing in instead of facing out. He objected to this correction. He pointed out that once everything was away, and the door to the closet closed, who cares?

This issue of how to correctly stack sheets and towels turned into a rip-roaring marital argument of grand proportions. He could not see her point. She thought he should recognize that she was right. Big fight.

Bear in mind, I only ever heard his side of the story. I commiserated with him on the unrealistic and ridiculous expectations his wife had. (To be honest, I grew up in a household where the state of the linen closet was the least of anyone’s worries.)

At the time I was too young and definitely not wise enough to realize they were not fighting about the linen closet or sheets and towels at all. These were control issues and I suspect the wife was either feeling she was not being heard, or her husband was disappointing her expectations on some level far beyond laundry folding.

The marriage didn’t last. I have no idea if they separated over control issues, laundry issues or something else. This story has always stuck in my mind because it seemed (to me) such a silly thing to argue over.

But was it? Like me, at the time they were not old enough or wise enough to take the discussion deeper than how to fold and store towels. That’s always a tough one for anybody to figure out.

Stay safe everyone.

Anne Milne is an every Sunday blogger.  Facebook or Twitter.