I take near scalding showers.

If the water don’t make my skin red and prickle – I don’t want or need it in my life. The ‘safe’ setting for most water heaters is B – warm enough to do something but safe enough not to burn children. The one at the house is set between C and D – well past the safety. Any children visiting my house, must use the waters with parental supervision.

My Aides have snatched their fingers from beneath the running water, nearly cussing at how hot it is while washing my dishes. The water and the gas bills are two bills I don’t cry about paying. My showers have been the bane of existence for many Aides and partners alike. Y’all ain’t gotta like it, but I gotta do it. #NotEvenALittleSorry

Let me have the misfortune of the pilot light going out or there being a malfunction in the water heater and I have to bathe in tepid or luke warm water? ?? Not only will I cuss in disgust about the underwhelming state of that poor excuse of a shower but I will not be made whole until the situation is fixed and I am reshowered.

So when I tell you that my shower this morning was delicious?!

Not just good. Not exceptionally great. Delicious?

It was the equivalent of sinking your spoon into that pint of your most favorite ice cream after a tough day. Or that first sip of that drank… you know the one that does it for you… Mmmhmm, yeah, that one.

That is how my shower felt this morning. It was a laying down of the burdens for the past week, a washing away of the sins, it was breathing First Breath, it was a religious experience of indescribable magnitude. Though I am not one for church, that shower was a whole Catholic service, complete with incense, holy water and Latin sung hymns. That shower gave me the strength to live and fight another week. In a life not filled with many easily attainable or accessible physical indulgences, my showers are a whole experience and mood. Protect your Self Care. #DisabledChronicles#truestoriesof2020#SelfCare