I'm gonna take a shower today. I also might just shave my legs.
After I had kids (15 years ago), I began to realize that a person could get by on a shower every-other-day. Every third day, if it is a trade-off for serious sleep. Yep ... I certainly never planned on adopting this previously unacceptable poor hygiene habit, but it happened. To this day, I shave my legs as seldom as possible. I will shave my arm pits whenever I'm in the shower - I guess that is because I see that hair more easily, as it is closer to my face. My legs - I can see those too - it's just too much work to incorporate into my every-other-day shower ritual.
And my kids, they are on an every-other-day bath ritual too (unless they are obviously filthy). And if it's summer, and they have gone swimming in the pool - that counts as a bath, in our house ("Nope ... you can't take a bath, you went swimming today). The pool has chlorine in it; a sufficient amount to kill most any germ - it counts as a bath, in my opinion. Sometimes, they can go a week or so without an actual bath ... during the summer. Not my sister-in-law's kids. Her kids have a bath, need it or not, every single day; clean sparkly hair - sleek shiny bodies - her kids. No matter how I try to spin this, this comes across like I'm not quite the mother I should be. It's like I'm sending my kids down to the creek or something to take their weekly bathes; that's how I think it reflects on me. Now mind you, I am aware of this reflection, but it doesn't bother me enough to actually change the every-other-day bath ritual I have perfected in our house.
I never would have believed, when I was a twenty-something year old girl, that wore panties and bras to match her outfits to work, that I would transform into a person that would go days without shaving her legs or wear pantyhose with runs in them - and not care. At age twenty-something I'm certain I would have said, "Oh, she must care. She cares. She just didn't have time to change those pantyhose - poor thing." But the truth is ... I don't care. And, all those calluses on my toes that I spent years building up in order to successfully wear all those 31/2" pumps - they disappeared early on; the calluses and the pumps.
One last thought on this subject, because it is revealing and embarrassing. On Oprah (yes, I watch Oprah) not too long ago, there was this female gynecologist speaking about things that women should beware of and the subject came up about tampons. The doctor mentioned that it was not uncommon for women to come to her office for regular pap exams and during the course of the exam a stray tampon had been found. The doctor said this happened quite often and made this statement matter-of-factly. Oprah looked at the doctor with a look that only Oprah can give someone when she is flabbergasted.
I was not at all surprised by this news, as I have lost a few myself - up there. Forgotten it was there - found it a day later, "Oh, that's right, I'm on my period - better take that out." Only women that have children and forgetful teen-age girls, forget they are on their period and neglect to realize that they have foreign objects stuck in their orifices'.
This is the point where I should go into how your mind goes, once you have kids, but I thinks that's obvious. You first lose your time - and then you lose your mind. Tampon's, while they may be lost for periods of time, are not important enough a thing as to be listed as "things lost", once you have kids. The tampons ... I just flush down the toilet and go on my way.
I'm going to take a shower now. And I'm going to wash my hair. I'm going to try to remember that I did indeed wash my hair, so that I don't wash my hair again (that sometimes happens) - because God knows ... people that have kids don't have the time to wash anyone's hair twice.
On the upside ... even if I had time to take a shower tomorrow - I don't have too (la, la, la, la,la).