Farm-Style Spa

When we were choosing all the options for my home (gosh, it's been 10 years ago) I clearly remember the option of getting an extra window in my bathroom. I really don't even remember what the other option was but that the clear, obvious choice, for me, was the window. The sales lady questioned my decision in a sort of are you sure you want to risk being seen in your bathroom kind-of attitude. I assured her that there was no way anybody was going to see me in my bathroom besides four-legged creatures, and I was sure they wouldn't mind.

I was so excited to be getting a tub too.

We lived in a fixer-upper in Huntsville that had two indoor-outhouses, only one of which had a tub and it was a sad, pitiful little tub. There were no knobs to turn on the water so we kept a pair of channel-locks nearby to twist the rods that stuck out of the wall. We were cave people. The experience of living in that house was God's way of growing me up and His way of making me appreciate the little things, like walls.

Although I have had this tub for nearly ten years, I haven't used it much. For one thing, I rarely take the time to have a soaking bath. For another thing, up until about a year ago, we had a water heater that wasn't nearly sufficient enough to fill the tub. I'm now, also, thankful for efficient water-heaters.

We have been told by fellow farmers, who have farmed their whole lives, "You either love it, or you hate it." I guess we must love it. We work hard, we get paid little and we certainly aren't living a cushy lifestyle. There are, however, some things that far outweigh any kind of monetary advantage. Things like taking a bath in the middle of the day just because you want to.

Even though I rarely use my tub, when I do... it is magical. It happened to be raining yesterday and I was stuck in the house. I needed a shower but then decided to just take some "me time" and give myself a little spa treatment. I got out my scrubby salts and mineral bath and was so thrilled that it just happened to be raining outside. One of my favorite things is to take a bath while it's raining outside and I'm about to tell you why.

I open up both of my bathroom windows so that glorious rainy air can infiltrate the whole room. The tub gets filled with extra hot water (thanks to my new water heater and the fact that there are no teenagers at home, sucking all of it up). Now my bathroom is filled with steam, rainy air and the sounds of frogs chirping, birds singing and the drip drip dripping on the leaves outside.

I told you the only people that would see me are the four-legged variety. Plus, these guys are mothers, they've given birth and suckled their young and have no preconceived ideas about beauty. They've never looked at women in magazines and felt inadequate. This is why I love them so, because they love me unconditionally...sometimes more than I would like.

So, at 1:30 in the afternoon, I'm soaking in the tub, feeling somewhat like a fairy bathing in the rain that has puddled on a leaf somewhere. At points, a breeze would float through the windows, cooling my hot skin, and I could swear that it was the beating of angels wings. Yes, there are some benefits to farming that far outweigh anything money could buy.

Then my bliss was interrupted by a phone call from Kyle. "Mom, I forgot my soccer uniform. Can you find it and bring it with you to the game. It's somewhere in my room."

And I'm back to reality again.

One more of my favorite things is drying off with a sun-dried towel. They are just so crispy and thirsty and, man alive, do they smell incredible. My spa treatment wouldn't be complete without being dried off in this fashion.

Even though my blissful afternoon was cut short, I was assuredly the most relaxed soccer mom at the game last night.