....next to Godliness

It has occurred to me that taking a shower requires more time than it used to. In my youth, I took a quick shower, toweled off, dressed and out the door in about fifteen minutes.

            First of all, nowadays I need more time to assemble the accoutrements necessary for a complete cleansing ceremony. That includes unscented body wash, and a face wash for delicate and dry skin, loufah mesh to scrub away dead skin cells, and a special purple shampoo for gray hair. It promises to be gentle on my aging locks.

            Next I place a rubber mat on the floor of the shower stall; even though it has a non-skid surface…I don’t trust it. Then I assemble two towels, one for body one for hair, face cloth and terry floor mat. I stand outside the stall, reach in and turn the water on, adjust the temperature back and forth until just right. Only then do I disrobe and enter the shower.

            After I use the face and body washes, I shampoo twice and rinse well. Next I use a conditioner that smells like lemon, wait five minutes while the lemony mixture softens my hair and rinse again. Then I turn the water off.

I open the curtain, reach for the first towel and wrap it around my head turban style. Then shawl the second towel over my shoulders. Before I leave the stall, I wipe down the walls with the squeegee I keep for that purpose.

            After toweling off, I sit on a third towel placed over the closed toilet seat. I raise each foot to carefully dry between toes. When did I start to pay such close attention to my toes? Then I use a pumice stone to rub across callouses on my feet. Now comes the various creams; moisturizing cream for the face, dry skin lotion for the arms, legs, and feet and 1% hydrocortisone cream for scaly elbows and multiple itchy spots. Finally I cut and apply moleskin pads to corns and tender places on my hammer toes.

            All this takes time. In winter it becomes more time consuming. Because I hate feeling cold, I take my portable electric heater to the bathroom ten minutes before I plan to shower. I keep the door closed to warm the room. I tend to stay in the hot shower longer, loathe to step out into chilly air.

            When I worked in a nursing home years ago, I didn’t understand why the elderly patients hated the bath. Ah….the ignorance of youth.