Today I am bored. I asked Twitter to entertain me and it worked, briefly. My Tweeps also gave me an idea. @BOREDmommy mentioned this repost which got me thinking about an old post of my own. It's nearly time for school to start. That means soon I will be able to shower without anyone asking me to cook a toaster strudel half way through shaving my legs. So take a look at a post from the very first month of this blog, November 2005.
Do you shower alone? (Otherwise known as The Naked Indian from Indiana)
I have a memory, from childhood, of Haley’s Comet. We went out to a field to see it pass over
head. The thing I remember most about it
is not the comet itself, but all the discussions of how often it passes, how
old you were, are, or will be when it is visiting. In 1986, the last time it was close enough to
our planet for us to see I was 12. Due
to my somewhat early age it may be possible for me to see it make another pass. I’ll be 88, think I’ll make it?
You may be asking yourself, what does Haley’s Comet have to
do with partnered showering and naked Indians, I’ll tie it together, just stick
with me.
A few months ago, around the time of school starting, I had
a brief email correspondence with the Yarn Harlot. She had written a post about being able to
take a bath. Not just any bath, a very
special, solitary, bath. I responded to
her, incredulous, wondering if it were true. Could a person take a bath, or bathe in any way, alone, without interruption,
in peace? She assured me that if you are
patient, wait for it, it may happen. She
did say that certain stars must align, that children must both be in school at
the same moment, that you must not be otherwise occupied, etc. but that if
things worked out, it could happen. So
this morning while I was in the shower I was wondering (while kids scampered in and out of
the bathroom… I’ll get to that shortly)
if it could happen twice. Just like
getting to see Haley cross the sky at an early age, could you maybe have two
showers uninterrupted? If the first time
happens when a Mommy is somewhat early in her Mommy years, and she lives just
long enough, could it really happen?
As I was smearing conditioner into my hair, hoping I live
long enough even to see the first solitary shower pass by, I hear the older
child (all of 6 years) say, “Mommy, look, I’m big as you!” I open my eyes and peer through the frosted,
textured, shower door just in time to see that she is indeed tall, having
climbed up onto the toilet. I only saw
her at this size for a moment before the shadowy image lost focus completely in
a loud thump and crumple. The 6 year old
was no longer as tall as her Mommy, instead she was lying in a crying heap on
the floor between the toilet and the wall (good thing I just cleaned the bathroom).
As any good Mommy would do, I threw the
shower door open and
leapt out of the shower. Thankfully the
Bug was not hurt, just a little shaken. Mommy on the other hand was
crouching on the bathroom floor, naked, wet,
hair full of conditioner. (Please, dear
readers, do not picture this. Nothing
good can come from picturing me in this position. I sincerely do not
want to lose the few
readers I have to nude squatting images) I stood Bug back up and sent
her on her way. I had to get back into the shower to rinse my
hair. My thoughts had changed from
thinking of maybe getting to shower twice in my life without potty
climbing
kids to thankfulness that I had not been shaving my legs when she began
her
yodel to draw my attention to her new found height.
Now I am out of the shower, dried off and dressed. My children have stripped off their PJs and
donned feathered headdresses and socks and are running around the house
yelling, “We are Na-ked In-d-uns from In-d-ana!” Who needs to shower alone, anyway?
