Just the mere mention of the name conjures up great memories. Bath time when I was a young boy was usually Sunday nights with my little brother Tim. Fleets of bubbles, bubble beards, bubble mountains, bubble caves, bubbles everywhere. Bath night was fun, filled with submarines and sailboats. Bath time which consisted of numerous salvos of more hot water and more bubbles seemed to last for hours. After the bath Mom would trim our nails and Q-tip our ears, then off to bed. Total elapsed time 60 minutes.
My fondest memories of bath time, was when our daughters were just babies. Bath time was usually in the kitchen sink, or maybe on one of those body sponges in the bath tub. Giggles, laughs, bubbles, and Johnson’s No More Tears baby soap; I loved the smell of bath time. Then, since my wife Kathy hated to use razor sharp cutlery around the girls, I trimmed their nails, Q-tipped their ears; then off to bed. Total elapsed time 20 minutes.
When the girls were each toddlers bath time was just like bath time with my brother Tim and I. Emily and Darby, with the sound track from Little Mermaid blaring in the background; playing with bubble mountains, bubble caves, bubble Santa beards, bubbles-bubbles everywhere. A happy time for everyone. And still Kathy, afraid of sharp tools around our girls, let me trim their nails, Q-tip their ears and then off to bed. Total elapsed time 60 minutes.
So why am I writing a blog about this Saccharinly sweet trip down memory lane? Well, this afternoon, I couldn’t help reflect on these great memories growing up as a little boy and then, as a new parent, bath time with my own two children. The evolution of bath time today has taken on a whole new dimension in our lives, now that our little girls, Emily, who is studying abroad in London and Darby, who’s waiting for her first letters of acceptance from her colleges, are all grown up and who, no-doubt, bathe themselves just fine without any outside assistance.
Bath time this very day won’t conjure up nearly as many fond memories, maybe a few laughs, a lot of sneezing (I am allergic to my own dogs) and a sore back; but no fond memories. Bath time today was with my own little ‘Mutt and Jeff’; Murphy, a 100 pound Golden Retriever with what seems like 20 pounds of long hair; and Zoe, a 15 pound King Charles that we rescued a few years back. You see, this winter has probably been the muddiest and wettest winter since moving to the East Coast and it’s been a good six to nine months since the last bath. Today’s bath time, which took hours, was more of a horror. Brushing the two grocery bags (really) of hair and mats before getting in the tub took my wife Kathy, more than an hour. Then it was time for little Zoe’s bath, which was pretty easy as far as the bath portion. Probably 20 minutes total time in the tub before toweling off, blow drying and more brushing. Murphy was a whole different story. You see, Murphy is terrified of bath time and the only way he can effectively get bathed is the full emersion technique (FET). What is FET, do you ask? Well the FET involves donning one’s swim suit and getting in the shower with a large wet, smelly, hairy and terrified wimp of a dog. Hair, wet hair, lots of wet clumps of hair everywhere; no bubbles, no giggles, only a sore back from spending 45 minutes bending over said dog, in a tub trying to wash and rinse every inch of Murphy while literally wrestling with him to prevent his escape out of the corner of the tub behind the shower curtain. Then, more brushing, more mats and another grocery bag of combed-out hair. But now they’re clean, smell good and I’m not sneezing as much. Total elapsed time, 4 hours 37 minutes.
Long gone are the days of the bubble beards, bubble mountains, little girl giggles and Little Mermaid sound tracks. But, I still get to cut the (dogs) nails, Q-tip their ears, before they are fast asleep just like a couple of little kids. I guess that’s one thing about Bath Time that remains the same at the O’Hara house.
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