A Luxurious Privilege

Although I have never been unwashed (for more than a day or two), I can't say I don't appreciate the luxurious privilege of being clean. As I showered today with Trader Joe's "Next to Godliness" Oatmeal & Honey Soap , I thought about how spotlessly clean my mother kept her children. I remembered . . . my sisters and I being called to the bath ~ on sublime summer evenings, with the scent of grass and grime wafting in behind us. Our playmates, lingering at the door, interrogated my mother: “Why do they have to go in before dark?” “Do they HAVE to have a bath EVERY day?” “How do you know when they’re DIRTY?” My mother, bless her heart (and still amused by this), never budged. Loving the bath, I don’t remember minding ~ very much.... And so today, as I felt the indulgent, velvety softness caress my body, its warm sweetness whispered to me… whispered memories of summer evenings, so very long ago. Soap whispers.