The wondrous tub bath

I'm not a bath girl at all. The last time I remember having 2 baths on 2 consecutive days was waaay back when I was 21, living in a tiny, nasty, cockroach-and-water-bug-infested 1 bedroom apartment near Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Little did I notice when I rented the place that it had no shower. Every day I battled with the permanent residents of the bathroom to get bug-free time to bathe as quickly as possible. I shudder when I think of that place, but with no college education and a work-a-day job it was the best I could afford at the time.

In fact, when I recently hired a new person to clean our place for us I mentioned that we don't generally take baths so the tub would be fairly easy to clean each week, no serious scrubbing necessary.

Yesterday I was having a short pity party and wondered what I could do for myself to boost my spirits. When Sheila was here a few weeks ago she brought me lavendar washing gel and body cream. So I drew my bath, first making sure that no one else had need of the facilities right away, and I dripped some of the gel into the running hot water.

As I slipped my body into the luxurious warmth of the tub, inhaling the scent I love so much, I relaxed fully for the first time since this ordeal started in October. Of course these days tubs are not nearly big enough for a full-size person like me to immerse completely, but just like a marinade I turned myself over and moved around to make sure that every surface of my skin got kissed by the steaming hot water.

And today was day two of the bathing experience. I wonder what it would be like at night with candles? Or soft music? Or is that just all hype and the point is the immersion? Whatever, I know I feel soft and relaxed and pleasantly scented, it's a blessing.