It's probably been 20 years since I've taken a real deep-dish soaking bath. We haven't had a usable tub in all that time and I never missed it. American life moves at the pace of showers: get in, get clean, get out. No one affords such a long time to get scrubbed. Too decadent, too elaborate, too busy.
Our new bathroom has a big deep tub and I've rediscovered reveling in long, slow, hot soaks. I lay back with a cuppa tea and a book and let the world worry its own head for an hour. I can't use my computer or the phone, the kids will have to wait, and the workshop is 2 floors away. It's pure luxury.
I suppose this is an indication that I'm allowing myself to slow down to a pace that human beings were born to. Not the mad dash towards success-disappointment-retirement and death that we've wound our life clocks up for. Tish and I always called eating in bed in front of the TV "supper in the tub" after this cartoon. We may not have two extra sous to rub together in this world but we do have a moment or two between breaths to take a walk, enjoy the dogs and kids, and watch the wild turkeys waddle across our lawn.