Random stories

Fixer Upper

One time, when I was about 12 years old, I went into my grandma's private bathroom for the first time. I was there to grab something for her, and noticed that it was a very unorganized mess. There was a small bedside table blocking the entrance to the door and on your right there was a small rack that was filled with unfolded towels. I found myself thinking that was odd because my grandma is usually a very clean person, and we already had a place for extra towels in the garage. The toilet was about 2 feet in front of the door and above it was a wooden cabinet also filled to the brim with bottles of soap you could tell form the dust hadn't been touched in years. To the right there was a sink that wobbled if you put any weight on it and underneath the open sink there were quite literally dozens of cleaning supplies that would normally go underneath the sink in the kitchen. Between the sink and the messy rack of towels there was a glass door that led you into a small box that was the shower. It was nice enough, but there wasn't a space to put any bottles or loofas.

I figured that I would do something nice for my grandma. She was always cleaning and always taking care of my little brother and I. So one day when she left to go do errands, I got to work. I folded all of the towels and put them in the garage where they belonged. To my surprise, once those were gone there wasn't even a need for the rack, and it took up quite a bit of space in the small bathroom. There wasn't anything special about it seeing as it looked as though it was made out of the same material as metal hangers. So I moved that out of her bathroom completely and put that in the garage as well since she's always saying she wished there was more room for cans and boxes of cereal. I figured that would be perfect. To replace the towel rack, I attached a hook onto the wall to a height that she could reach and on that wall there was plenty of space for the bedside table to be moved. I cleaned it out, throwing away old paper towels and whatever else wasn't needed inside. I also took the liberty of getting rid of anything that hadn't been touched in years or was expired (though it was usually both). I did the same under the sink, and moved everything to be underneath the kitchen sink. I tightened the screws on the sink to make sure it wouldn't wobble and suddenly the whole bathroom felt new.

I was so excited to show my grandma when she got home, and when I did, all I saw was disappointment on her face, but she didn't say anything, and went back to cooking in her kitchen. I was confused, but glad I was able to help her.

When I went back to grab something for her a week later, I looked around, horrified. She had ripped off the hook I had put and replaced everything just the way it was. I was even sure that she had put back most of the expired bottles in her bathroom. Somehow the sink was once again wobbly and the bedside table was once again blocking the door.

I asked my grandma why she had done that and she said she likes everything the way it was. And when I told her that it was a mess all she said was "Well." and that was the end of the conversation.

My grandma is a wonderful person, but this isn't the only time that she's done something like this. Although she encourages change in others she hates change for herself. To this day I obviously am still heartbroken that my small gestures of gratitude for her came off as though I were a horrible person.