Shower Hour

I just finished working a sudoku puzzle and reading a few pages in my current book.

The very idea of it just shocks and appalls family and the less than a handful of friends who know. . . . about WHERE I was solving the sudoku and enjoying a good read.


I. read. in. the. shower.


And no, I am not going through any 12-step program to "cure" myself!


1.) Our shower is quite large - it is not a bathtub shower. It's a walk-in, with two shower heads. Good lighting above.


2.) It is the most peaceful place in my house.


The reason people argue about my 'disgusting habit' is that it "ruins" books. Well, first of all, they are my books, and second of all, they aren't unreadable later, they are just a 'little' fat for the bookshelf and they certainly couldn't be resold. (I am not going to take a $25.00 hardback in there.)

These disturbed, angry peeps want to know why I can't read in the bathtub.

I don't like taking baths, for one. Our bathtub is also huge. It would take a long time to fill up. Then the water is too hot, but quickly it is too cold. Constant adjustments.

But more importantly, the bathing is not quiet and peaceful. Not only do other people believe that while in the tub, I can still answer the phone, converse through the door, or continue to solve problems (referee fights, locate items, etc.), I don't relax because I can HEAR things. I can hear the T.V. or the arguing or the laughing or the dryer or whatever else is going on in the house. And maybe, back in the day, I could have tuned all the noises out, these days, I am too easily distractable.

In the shower: no phone. no sounds. no interuptions.

Therefore, I work sudokus. I read.

My paper only gets splashed or slightly dewy. I take the same sudoku book in every night, so it is not ruined. I read the same book until I finish - it is not ruined.

I take long showers. Thirty minutes or a little longer. I have a (plastic) glass of crushed ice and water that I drink while I'm in there. I relax. It is wonderful.

Yes, there'll likely come the day when the house is always quiet, and I can read and relax anywhere, and I can part from these evil ways.

Right now, it works for me. A little water didn't bother Gene Kelly, and it doesn't bother me!