Borrowing

I posted last week about being a good house guest. I thought about borrowing things. I am having 13 at my house for Christmas. Usually there are only 8 of us at the most. My dining room table holds 8. I have a large island in my kitchen with 6 barstools. But the bar is usually where I put all the food to be served buffet style. My grown son has one of those hard plastic-like folding tables you get at Sam's. It would be perfect for the additional 5 people, and my country-style kitchen/dining area will accomodate this table. When I went and got it and brought it home, it was nasty looking. The top had mildew-looking stains, and the underside had some rust from being out in the weather. Of course I was going to put a table cloth over it, and no one would be looking at the underside, but I would know that it was nasty. Even if I just wiped it off, it would not get rid of the stains. Instead I got an SOS pad and scrubbed the top, and I got paper towels and wiped up the rust on the underside. I had it looking good. And I started thinking about borrowing things. I don't really like to borrow things. The best advice I have given my kids which always needs to be repeated is when you borrow.... 1. return it promptly 2. return it in better shape than when you got it. If it breaks... either fix it or offer to pay to have it fixed. As our future seems more and more uncertain, we may need to practice borrowing etiquette more often.