Warm Showers

I often joke, saying I was born in the right century; because I like my indoor plumbing.  It's not really a joke.  Aside from a few experiences at Girls' Camp or family camping -- or one really cold night in December in Alabama in 2000 when our water heater was broken (but I still had to have my shower), I have always been blessed to have warm showers. 

And maybe it did occur to me, during that frigid shower in Alabama, that I am grateful for warm showers.  But, even if it didn't then, it occurred to me recently while I was in one of those warm showers, enjoying a few minutes of quiet time while the steam rose around me and the water poured over me.  Do you ever feel so nice in a warm shower that you wish you could just stand there forever (and it wouldn't use up all the hot water -- or turn your skin sort of lobster-looking?)?  It occurred to me that this seemingly small thing, one I have enjoyed my entire life, is something for which to be grateful.  Because, even today, there are people in this world who do not have the blessing of indoor plumbing; so they don't get daily showers period, much less warm ones. 

I'm not sure what made me think about how grateful I am for warm showers that day.  I think it was just feeling the warmth on a particularly chilly day.  And thinking about someone I know who still stands under a cold shower at the end of his warm shower to remind him of a time when he didn't have warm showers -- to help him remember that a warm shower is something for which to be grateful.  Would I be willing to do this? 

Warm showers make me happy.  It's what I consider the end to my day (even though it rarely ever is).  I feel like the warm shower washes away the stresses of the day, big or small, and gives me time to unwind.  And so today, like every day now, I am grateful for warm showers.

What are you grateful for today?