Halley earlier this week described taking a bath on a cold morning.
Run into the bathroom to dive into a hot soapy tub. I do a jackknife from the high dive. Land with grace and agility in a lavendar ocean.
Made me think about how much I like to take a bath. And what I also like to do is to read in the bath. But this is a perpetual problem: finding suitable material to take into the tub.
You see, I have a bad habit of dunking books in the tub. Then again I don’t know if you can use the word “habit” for something that’s only happened once. Or twice, maybe…
Years ago – think it might have been even while we were still living in Rhode Island during the beginning of our marriage – I took a bath with a book. But something happened. I can’t remember if I got sleepy or if I got sloppy. But the book took a bath too. It was one of Ted’s favorite books also. Ted likes his books. Especially out-of-print editions, written by authors who are no longer alive. But fortunately for me, he likes his wife more.
However, this was not a mistake I was going to make again. I’ll take mercy but it’s easier on a marriage to change my ways. Since that time I’ve never taken a book in the tub. I only take magazines with me, ones that it wouldn’t matter if they got all wet and soggy. That leaves a limited number of resources for reading material. Oh well, it’s not as if I spend much time in the tub any more anyways.
I can’t quite remember if I’ve dunked another book or magazine, one of mine, since that time I took Ted’s book for a bath. We still have that one. Dried it out and kept it, put it back on the shelf. It was a spiritual book, about worship and God, so describing it as “baptized” seemed appropriate.
Now if only I could blog in the tub…:-)
2 responses so far ↓
1 tania // Feb 4, 2004 at 11:02 pm
i bought a book once called aqua that was actually waterproof!
2 Katherine // Feb 5, 2004 at 2:48 pm
I used to read in the bath a lot growing up. As an adult I rarely have, but remember occasionally taking a Reader’s Digest in there. Perfect for it, with short stories and totally disposable, destined for recyling anyway.