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My coworkers are unanimously amazed that I take a bubble bath every night.
I mentioned it one day months ago, and I still hear them talking about it. One was wondering what she might give me for my birthday. “Well, she takes a bath every night, you know,” said another. “Oh, that’s right!” the first one answered excitedly, probably having visions of exotic bath products.
Also, the other day, I heard one comment, “I can’t believe Kim shaves her legs every night.” “What?!” said a second one. “Who does?” and when she was told it was me, she stared at me, incredulously. “Every night? There’s no way.”
I am surprised that they find it so amazing. I suspect they imagine me in a garden tub with candles and a flute of champagne, when really my bath is simply a part of my routine, no different than brushing my teeth. I fill the tub, toss in some bubble bath, and get in. If I’m reading an actual book I might take it into the bathroom with me and read a few pages while I soak. (One of the disadvantages of Kindle is that I’m afraid to read it in the tub in case I might drop it, so I read in the tub less often now.) Even including shaving, the whole process probably takes fifteen minutes—maybe a little longer if it’s a chilly night and the hot water is feeling especially good to my muscles. I like to go to bed clean in consideration of my husband, but also I simply enjoy my bath. I’ve taken them for as long as I can remember.
When I’ve asked my friends why it shocks them so, they’ll generally say, “How do you have time? Who has time for that every night?” I just cock my head and look at them, puzzled. I once read a book called Open House, by Elizabeth Berg. The narrator expresses curiosity about the lives of her neighbors, and wishes she could somehow magically crack open the roofs of their houses to peer inside and check out their lives. I think of that when my friends say they don’t have time for a bath. Granted, they simply might not care to take one, but to not have time? I wonder what it is they’re doing at 9 or 10 PM.
They’re not working. Cooking and cleaning seem unlikely at that hour. A few of them may be doing their college homework. But mostly I would guess they are shopping, doing errands they didn’t get to over the weekend, or coming home late from some sort of kids’ or church activity. See, this is why my children never did a great deal of extracurricular stuff. This is why I myself am not a “joiner,” and am probably gossiped about for my continuous absence at “ladies’ craft night” and various other activities at my church. My husband and I –both of us, and I’m very glad to be united in this matter—simply demand some “down time,” and will consider no other way of life. We work, we maintain an orderly home, stocked with groceries and clean laundry, we go to church on Sundays, and THEN—we expect some rest and relaxation. Period.
When our son was younger, a buddy of his joined a Little League team. The two kids were in after-school care together, so we would run into his parents and speak to them most days. It seemed that this ball team had practice virtually every night of the week, and then games on Saturdays. I was more amazed by this than my friends are about my bath! Every night of the week? Seriously? And then to have the family’s whole Saturday dominated by the preparation for the game, the traveling to it and the playing of it? Thankfully our son was never interested in this kind of thing. But it seems to me that children are usually pushed into such activities by their parents when they’re barely past the potty-training stage. They’re too young to even know what baseball and gymnastics are, much less ask to participate. So parents, I have to wonder, why do you take on so much? Why do you over-schedule yourself and your family so?
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My son usually gets home from school just a few minutes before I get home from work. Once I change clothes, sometimes I plop down in his room to visit, or sometimes he comes to mine. We talk about whatever presents itself. One day last week, I told him the whole story of the day he was born. On another day, I asked him what he was reading in his English class and we discussed that. Eventually he’ll say he’s hungry and I might go ahead and fix him something to eat if he can’t hold out until dinnertime. But the point is, nobody’s in a hurry. Nobody’s nagging anybody to get ready to go somewhere. No major tasks are hanging over my head because we routinely take care of shopping and cleaning. It’s 5 o’clock, and we’re pretty tired, but it’s okay because our day is mostly done. I care for the pets, tidy things up and look around the kitchen to see what I might fix for dinner, which I assure you is nothing complicated. Usually I light the candles in the living room, and then we’re just hanging out, waiting for Daddy to come home and join us. Our family is in for the night.
Oct 27, 2014 @ 12:08:44
I haven’t lived in a house that had a bathtub for a good chunk of my life, which is probably why “bathtime” sounds funny to me. (Growing up, we would just put the babies in a bucket to wash them–bathtubs aren’t common in our part of the world). I’m not a huge fan of team activities that take a huge time commitment, either.
Oct 27, 2014 @ 12:47:43
We keep our schedules pretty simple too. I don’t take baths, but that’s only because I don’t care for them much.
Oct 27, 2014 @ 21:13:38
Thanks for commenting, ladies! :-) Rachel, just recently I was looking at some $550K condos for sale–NOT that I could buy one, I was just looking at the models for fun. They had very fancy modern bathrooms, but they didn’t have bathtubs! No way would I buy one even if I did strike it rich!
P.S. What is your part of the world?
Oct 28, 2014 @ 01:41:33
Thank you for sharing this post on Good Morning Mondays. I love a good soak in the tub, especially if it is a spa bath. It isn’t something that I do often but when I do wow it’s great. Blessings
Oct 28, 2014 @ 15:18:57
I try to keep all of the schedules to a minimum in my household. Dinner is made before hubby comes home from work and the housework is generally all taken care of. I wish that I could take a bath every night, but usually its just a shower. My baths involve candles, essential oils, bubble baths, and at least an hour of soaking. So, I take that time only about once a week, but even then its special. :)
-Lara
Oct 31, 2014 @ 13:49:52
We make time for what we want to do. It’s simple as that. I prefer a shower in the morning because it helps me to wake up. The bath would be relaxing – especially since I invested in a whirlpool tub, lol! Both my husband and I work outside the home and partner in the homeschooling of our kids. We both have things we do for outrselves. I put my kids in activities during the week because frankly, it gives me 2 hours to take a nap, cook dinner, do somethings on the computer, before my husband takes over schooling them. Once he takes over, I watch TV or read before going to sleep.
Oct 31, 2014 @ 17:21:26
You are living a rare schedule… and we would all be better off if we implemented the same. The fact is … that your co-workers, like many of us, probably really are still working later in the evening… preparing for the next day, tidying, talking w/ husband or children, or…. ? It really does help to slow things down, but that is very hard to do…. and I really need to evaluate and trim some things from our schedule. When I take a bath, I do enjoy it… and read… and spend 45 min – an hour in there, so I most of the time I just take a shower… then I really enjoy the bath when I get one. :)
Nov 01, 2014 @ 13:29:52
So I smiled from the beginning as I started reading your words because I love baths but rarely ever take them. I have 2 bathrooms in our house, one has a shower and the other a tub for baths. The tub for baths, due to my limited closet space may hold something other than water at various times because we never use the tub. When my children I would bathe them there, but because it was so cold up there we did it infrequently. It is a lovely tub to relax in but it is sooooo cold. Whoever designed the house did not plan well.
I’m not a big ‘joiner’ either, and my husband and I prefer the quiet of home rather than the crazy noise of busyness so I totally get where you are coming from. :) I enjoyed my visit to your sweet space today.
Blessings!
Dawn
Nov 01, 2014 @ 18:00:00
LOL, Dawn, I’m not sure if I know how to attach a pic to a comment, but if I could I would take a pic of my 2nd bathroom, where there is a bar installed inside the shower to hold my out-of-season clothes, and my cats’ litter box in the tub! I tell ya…I would bite the bullet on the closet space if I had to, but since I had already decided there was no place else in our home where I would allow a litter box to be… what the heck, I might as well use the space for hanging!
Nov 02, 2014 @ 01:13:27
I love the description of living a simpler life and also the joy in making time for yourself. The choices we make determine who we are and how we live our lives-what great choices you are making. Thank you for linking up to The Weekend Brew.
Nov 03, 2014 @ 00:37:04
Hi Kim…We were a little league family because both of our boys expressed interest in baseball. However, we were the coaches and often could control our practices so we weren’t running around crazy. We wanted to enjoy the experience and make it memorable for our sons. We have awesome memories not to mention made great friends along the way. Our baseball days our over now but we still watch the game together. As for baths, its so wonderful you make time to relax that way at the end of the day. I’m a shower in the morning gal and baths are not my thing. Still, I like to unwind with a good read before bed and that’s my down time. :-) So glad you shared this at Monday’s Musings. Have a fabulous week.
Nov 03, 2014 @ 03:37:23
Oh my heavens, yes! My family and I were just the same, and I am pleased to report that my husband and I are wholeheartedly going to continue this blessed home-centered lifestyle. Only “thing” I ever did growing up was choir practice one night a week, but I really loved singing and it was totally my decision to join. And considering how close we lived to the church, it wasn’t a big deal. My parents and I spent our Saturdays cleaning, shopping and generally doing whatever we felt like doing. All weeknights but choir night were simply homework, dinner, TV or phone calls or reading, and bath time, and nothing was rushed. I’ll be forever grateful to have memories of actual conversations with my parents and a peaceful home life. Home was our world, and it was a happy place. Every child deserves this.
Nov 03, 2014 @ 11:29:47
I love this! I don’t take bath, my thing is a long shower and primping before bedtime ritual. I shower very quickly in the morning, but every single evening I take a long ritual of showering with sweet-smelling soap, toweling off my body, then put lotions on. Well, it’s 15 minutes in all, really, but it feels luxurious. ^__^
I believe that any woman should maintain her body as well as her soul. Men too, of course.
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