Shower, Interrupted

There are so many things we take for granted.  Like good health.  Sunshine.  The devoted love of family members.  A good night’s sleep. 

And uninterrupted showers.

Yeah, you read me right:  uninterrupted showers are awesome, and I have to rank them right up there with good health, way ahead of sunshine,  though maybe slightly (a teeny-tiny bit) behind sleep and the family love thing. 

There was a time when I took uninterrupted showers for granted.  Like when I was ages 5-31.  But then I had a baby.  A baby whom I adored so much I would set her outside my shower and peek out at her every 10 seconds to make sure she was still okay.  So precious!  Look at her! 

Then the next baby came and now I had to corral a toddler and an infant in the bathroom while I showered, and more often than not I had to hop out of the shower a few times to reinsert a pacifier or retrieve a board book from the toilet. 

By the third baby, the bigger kids were allowed to be outside of the bathroom (which forced me to have super-speedy showers), and that infant-outside-my-shower thing was getting old.  Jack missed his mama and I resented the crying, and was sick of sticking my head out of the shower to reassure him I was still there and tired of making silly faces at him and sick and tired of singing The Brady Bunch theme so he could hear my voice. 

Even as he grew, he liked to play in the bathroom while I showered, setting up Lego parking lots for his Matchbox cars or reading books on his belly on the fuzzy bathmat.  There was a constant stream of chatter, mostly a play-by-play of what his cars were doing intermingled with “Are you soon done, Mama?”

But those years are over, and I have been taking uninterrupted showers for granted …until yesterday morning when I was reminded yet again to treasure my solitude:  Jack knocked on the door and asked for more toast (“Go ask Daddy!”) and Ben knocked on the door because he wanted me to play Guitar Hero with him (“I’m a little wet in here…ask me in twenty!”)

Then I was left alone again to enjoy the peace and quiet, grumble to myself about the interruptions, then ponder my luck at having someone to make toast for and play Guitar Hero with. 

Hahaha!  Good one!  No, I really just totally grumbled to myself about the interruptions then turned up the shower to drown out any further distress calls from the rugrats.