Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
In addition, now and again I will provide some of my fiction to read, for free, on this newsletter. Everything is available to anyone who subscribes, but I am always pleased when someone shows their appreciation for the newsletter by upgrading to paid.
Daily Diary, Day 1488:
This is my third post in the new series that I have started alternating with my Sunday TaDa! List posts. If you want a more detailed description of why I decided to write them and give them the title A Small Moment of Delight, you can check out the first post Here.
Every morning when I step into the shower of my newly remodeled ensuite bathroom, I experience several moments of delight.
First comes the shower door, which is a vast improvement over the old shower, which was as old as the house (50 years old) and had rusted and sharp edges and leaked. This new shower door is made of very sturdy green glass, and has beveled edges so I no longer fear slashing my foot as I leave the shower.
The second delightful aspect of the shower are the two grab bars. At the beginning of covid, when my husband was up north helping my daughter and grandsons cope with lockdown, and I was alone, I fell one morning as I stood on one leg to dry my other foot. Only ended up bruised, but very shaken by what a disaster this could have been. Since then, I now sit on toilet while drying my feet, but I was very aware that since the old shower had nothing for me to hold onto, falling while washing my feet was a constant danger. This, frankly, became the major impetus for me putting bathroom remodels on the list of things to do to age in place.
What I particularly like about these grab bars is that I was able to direct exactly where I wanted them placed (and therefore the studs they would be attached to were reinforced.) I needed them to be high enough so that in the small confines of this shower I wouldn’t worry about bumping my shoulders on them. They are at eye height and work perfectly for holding on to no matter what direction I am standing.
However, the most exquisite moment of delight comes each morning when I stand under the shower. As I moved into my mid 70s, I discovered that when I first wake up, pretty much all my joints ache. Most of the time we’re not talking pain, just ache. And what generally takes care of most of the aches is a hot shower, so I now shower first thing every day.
However, the old shower head was just a few inches above my head, which meant that I had to either bend backward or scrunch down to wash or rinse my hair. In addition, the water came out very hard and stinging, which meant if the water hit my face directly, it hurt.
Again, because I was the one who decided where the shower head would go, and what kind of shower head, I was able to address both these problems. This shower output is very gentle, and the shower head is placed very, very high up. So high that I can stand facing it and stretching my arms upward and there are still about six inches—which essentially means the water cascades down my whole body, effectively washing away the aches. (Photo not of me, smile.)
Standing in this fashion, feeling the drops like gentle rain on my face, every morning is a small moment of delight, and which I will never get tired of experiencing.
I would love to know if taking showers, or soaking in a hot tub (never been my particular favorite), brings you similar moments of ease and delight?
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Every so often if my metabolism is off and I feel chilled, I'll soak in a hot bath tempered with Epsom Salts and Eucalyptus Oil. Oh yeah! Still fortunate that a single aspirin takes care of any aches.
Shower looks amazing!