Some Showers Take Longer Than Others

You know those weekends that just make you love life? Yeah. Those are great, ain't they?

You know those Mondays after the weekends that you love so much? Yeah... I hate those...

I am not, nor have I ever been, by any stretch of the imagination, a morning person. So you can imagine how hard MONDAY mornings hit me. Admittedly, it could be a lot worse. I mean, relatively speaking, my life has been well-nigh idyllic. My family loves me dearly, I have an AMAZING girlfriend, my friends rock the world, I have a great home, and I have an incredible imagination which has fueled most of the passions, skills and talents in my life.

One of the things I love most about my house is the shower. I know, kinda mundane, most homes have them, so what? I don't care that the majority of the world, much less America, has also experienced the glorious-ness that is my morning ritual, without which I can barely function. It's a lovely way to wake up when the day is cold and the bed is warm, providing enough movement to get the body awake without administering a system-wide SHOCK.

My morning shower is often a time for my own quiet reflection. I think about lots of things. God, life, love, music, friends and school top the list. Many times, since I am not a morning person, I am depressed. The shower provides a lovely little escape pod that I can enjoy while I muster up whatever courage and fortitude it will take to face the day. Sometimes it involves taking whatever worries I've held onto from yesterday and letting them wash away in blissful liquid warmth. Other times, my shower becomes a place of repentance, thinking about things I should not have done or thought, and how to go about making up for whatever ground I may have lost in my own conscience, and how to avoid making the same mistakes over again. Occasionally, the shower is a source of enormous vitality, springing me to life with the first touch of water. These are regrettably the rarest types of showers, but I suppose that makes them all the more valuable.

Depending on what kind of day I had previously, or whatever craziness happens to be running through my mind, it may take a longer time for me to get up the motivation to shut off the faucet and step out into the world. This morning's shower took a long time. Mondays are always the worst. "Weekend's over, school today. Oh yeah, remember that book review due on Friday you haven't started yet? Yeah, might wanna get on that. Laundry might be a good idea, too. You don't want to run out of underwear again. Oh, and DON'T put off cleaning your room. That's gonna take a century to get through without all the other stuff you'll have to juggle. But she's worth it, ain't she? Yeah, of course she is, that and a heck of a lot more. How much more? Worth- WHOA now, don't go there yet. Preparation, man, preparation! And besides, there's still a lot of things to iron out between you. You know, those annoying little differences that aren't really important, but they keep needling at you and won't go away...

"You're gonna be late for class..."

Sigh................