Bath time

When I was young, baths were a given in abundance. As a child I had more time and was more dependent, the need for baths was obvious. Often on a daily basis my mother or father would fill up the bath water, pull a begrudging child into the bathroom and force me into the tub. Then I would try to speedily get everything done to get back to my day. I never took the time to appreciate them, why would I? They were simply a given, even an annoyance. I would hurry through my bath, jump out of the tub, and hardly dry off before my next activity.

Now that I am older, baths are rare. There is less time for them, and my assertion of independence warrants less need. Nevertheless, when they are available I consider them a luxury. I take time to let the water run for a while until it is quite hot. Fill the tub halfway,and then top it off with lukewarm water. As the second half is filling I find whatever soap might bubble the most, and I pour in a few drops. Beautiful bubbles begin to form all throughout the water.

While the water is still going I hop into the tub and lay down. Enjoying the feel of the water, the sound of running water, the texture of the bubbles. Pure momentary bliss.

However, as I sit in luxury the water gets cooler. The bubbles dissipate. The little drain halfway to the top of the tub licks in bits of water, to prevent overflow. I realize it's time to depart.

I sit in the tub and watch as the water forms a little tornado as it leaves. I get out and slowly dry off, contemplating all my subsequent daily activities. I take a breath, and move on.

Sandcastles

Sandcastles. Molly loved Sandcastles.

Beautiful well-constructed sandcastles, built just far enough from the highest tide to stay safe, but close enough to still feel the breeze of the ocean.

Her love for Sandcastles fueled her desire for buckets. She was a collector, a connoisseur of sand-buckets, if you will. She had all sorts of colors and shapes. She had been accumulating them for a while, and had them set up in her room on various shelves.

Every so often Molly would take all of her buckets to the beach, find that perfect place on the sand near the water's edge. She'd set up all of her buckets in orderly fashion. She would assort them by shape starting with circular, then the square, and finally the oddly shaped buckets. Then she would rearrange them by color- creating a rainbow of buckets. Sometimes, if she felt ambitious, she'd sort them out by size, creating a symmetrical bridge of buckets across the sand.

Other children were quite envious of her collection. If only they had such beautiful buckets, what castles they would build!

She would just smile and watch the children, recognizing their buckets were nothing in comparison with hers. She imagined what beautiful sand castles she could make.