One of life's simple pleasures is bathing. Whether it's a shower or a bath, getting clean has a refreshing feeling that can uplift your spirits.
Warm baths when you're sick, cold showers on a steamy day in July, a hot shower on a cold day in January - they are all slices of heaven on earth.
But throughout our lives we interject different items into our routine that begin to prohibit the sanctity of the self-cleansing that is almost naturally spiritual.
When we are kids, we play with toys. Yes, as parents we understand that sometimes the best way to have your child get clean and stay in the tub is to make them want to use their imagination and play. It also means that you might be able to run a quick load to the laundry room without a child strapped to your leg. The point is, from an early age it's not so much about relaxing our bodies and getting clean as it is about playing in warm, soapy water.
As adults, the shower can become both a pausing moment of reflection and relaxation, as well as a 5-minute hinderance in our morning routine before we have to go to work.
Some people sing in the shower - I know I do from time to time (and poorly). I play music from my phone or iPad using Pandora, but when I was younger we had a battery-powered portable radio in the bathroom. Z104 was fun to sing along with when I was 12, and the boom box allowed me to jam to Kid Rock, Korn, Weezer and Ben Folds in my teenage years.
Other people use the shower quietly in thought, or, if you're like me, have entire fake conversations with people, usually centered on a controversial debate topic. I always win.
And while these shower routines are all semi-normal, even as adults we have started to add things. Waterproof phone cases so we can follow Dear Leader's thoughts in the Twitterverse and scroll Facebook to see all the fun photos of our friends on vacation. There are waterproof tablet cases, which I now feel I need so I can watch sporting events without missing any action.
We have dozens of different styles of loofas, hundreds of soaps both liquid and bar, shampoos and conditioners to choose from, razors for shaving, mirrors and blackhead removers, and different mounts to hold them all. Not to mention the shower head with its 37 different styles of spray. We as a society are turning our showers into a vanity for all walks of life.
It's almost like we've forgotten how to relax.
And then came this purchase: A beer holder. Actually, it's a can holder, but I will use it 95 percent of the time to hold my beer. Because shower beers are actually heaven on earth. But if you don't like beer, they have wine glass holders. And while drinking beer in the shower comes with a stigma (why, I don't fully understand), drinking wine in the shower just means you have a problem. Etiquette suggests that wine shall be sipped during a bubble bath with a Kenny G album Bluetoothed to your surround sound speakers mounted on the shower walls while multiple candles from Bed Bath & Beyond are lit and the roses are in vases. At least that's what Hollywood has led me to believe.
- Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times and dreams of the day his shower is a tropical waterfall. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
Warm baths when you're sick, cold showers on a steamy day in July, a hot shower on a cold day in January - they are all slices of heaven on earth.
But throughout our lives we interject different items into our routine that begin to prohibit the sanctity of the self-cleansing that is almost naturally spiritual.
When we are kids, we play with toys. Yes, as parents we understand that sometimes the best way to have your child get clean and stay in the tub is to make them want to use their imagination and play. It also means that you might be able to run a quick load to the laundry room without a child strapped to your leg. The point is, from an early age it's not so much about relaxing our bodies and getting clean as it is about playing in warm, soapy water.
As adults, the shower can become both a pausing moment of reflection and relaxation, as well as a 5-minute hinderance in our morning routine before we have to go to work.
Some people sing in the shower - I know I do from time to time (and poorly). I play music from my phone or iPad using Pandora, but when I was younger we had a battery-powered portable radio in the bathroom. Z104 was fun to sing along with when I was 12, and the boom box allowed me to jam to Kid Rock, Korn, Weezer and Ben Folds in my teenage years.
Other people use the shower quietly in thought, or, if you're like me, have entire fake conversations with people, usually centered on a controversial debate topic. I always win.
And while these shower routines are all semi-normal, even as adults we have started to add things. Waterproof phone cases so we can follow Dear Leader's thoughts in the Twitterverse and scroll Facebook to see all the fun photos of our friends on vacation. There are waterproof tablet cases, which I now feel I need so I can watch sporting events without missing any action.
We have dozens of different styles of loofas, hundreds of soaps both liquid and bar, shampoos and conditioners to choose from, razors for shaving, mirrors and blackhead removers, and different mounts to hold them all. Not to mention the shower head with its 37 different styles of spray. We as a society are turning our showers into a vanity for all walks of life.
It's almost like we've forgotten how to relax.
And then came this purchase: A beer holder. Actually, it's a can holder, but I will use it 95 percent of the time to hold my beer. Because shower beers are actually heaven on earth. But if you don't like beer, they have wine glass holders. And while drinking beer in the shower comes with a stigma (why, I don't fully understand), drinking wine in the shower just means you have a problem. Etiquette suggests that wine shall be sipped during a bubble bath with a Kenny G album Bluetoothed to your surround sound speakers mounted on the shower walls while multiple candles from Bed Bath & Beyond are lit and the roses are in vases. At least that's what Hollywood has led me to believe.
- Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times and dreams of the day his shower is a tropical waterfall. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.