Queen of the Bath
If you go into any DIY store, you’ll find that there are a wide variety of shower stalls, with all sorts of different features, and all the bells and whistles. While those are great, and I do enjoy a hot shower from time to time, I much prefer to relax in a lovely, deep bathtub full of lush bubbles and wonderful scents. The bath to me is more than just about getting clean; it’s a place where I can get a lot done, too.
People laugh when I tell them this, but I actually do all my best thinking in the bath. I’m not sure why, but something about being relaxed allows the creative parts of my brain to work at full capacity. I don’t have any other distractions; I’m just there in a comfortable, reclined position, enjoying the warmth and feeling the tension melt away. I do a lot of practical problem-solving in the bath, and the fact that it is such an intimate and private setting allows me to focus on the issues at hand in a calm and rational way.
If I don’t have anything serious to think about, I usually take a book into the bath with me. I’ll use a bath bomb, or some kind of fragrant, foaming liquid to make the water pretty and aromatic, sink down into the suds, and let the story carry me away. For some reason I concentrate on my reading more thoroughly in the bath than I do at any other time or place, so I make the most of it. Sometimes I get a bit carried away and end up with toes like prunes, but I soon recover, and I have never regretted any time spent relaxing in a bathtub with an interesting book.
The bathtub is also a good place to do all those personal maintenance rituals that I don’t always have time for when I’m in the shower. Exfoliating my skin, putting on a revitalizing face mask, and working a deep conditioning treatment into my hair are all things that I’m rarely able to accomplish in the shower, but are exceedingly easy in the bath. I take my time, sometimes adding bath oil to the water to moisturize and nourish my skin. I always come out of the bath feeling wonderfully soft and feminine. A full maintenance bath is one of my favorite treats when I’m feeling low or need a boost in energy.
In a world full of people who seem to prefer the convenience and speed of a shower, I have always been made to feel a bit quaint and backwards for loving my bathtub. It doesn’t matter to me, though — I cherish my bath time, and I feel bad for people who don’t understand the luxury of it. I don’t have the time to take a bath everyday, but at least once a week I enjoy skipping the shower and spending an hour or so soaking in hot, sudsy water, reading or thinking or just relaxing. It’s my private retreat, my escape from the real world, and I wouldn’t trade my bathtub for all the high-tech shower stalls in the universe.
