1. First Shower
On the morning of the second day, it was cold. Trudy and I looked at each other and both said, “I’m not taking a shower today.” But on the still-cold morning of the third day, we saw things in a different light. Trudy walked off and took her shower, coming back happy and smiling and clean. And I went off to do the same.
Once in the shower, I realized that I didn’t have a razor. I had left it on the tub at my mother in law’s house when I stayed with her last. And I realized I’d left my bar of soap back at the campsite. But at least I had my shampoo: Tea Tree Oil shampoo that I was looking forward to.
I could scrub my hair with Tea Tree Oil and let the tingling suds run down my neck and get a bit of a spa treatment from it. I figured that would make up for no soap. And I figured that Trudy could probably tolerate my fuzzy face, especially after her “You’re cute” comment yesterday upon seeing my stubble.
So there I was, standing in the warm water scrubbing my hair with the shampoo, amazed at just how oily my hair had become, because there were no suds. Well, more shampoo. Scrub. Scrub. Repeat. No suds. Hmm. What was this stuff? Moisturizer.
I had no soap. No razor. And I was pouring moisturizer into my hair.
2. Last Shower
After we packed our stuff into and onto the car on the morning (actually, afternoon) of the last day, we were exhausted. I looked over at Trudy and asked if she was going to take a shower.
“I’m not,” I offered. She nodded her head, but we sat there looking at each other.
The campground was virtually empty. Everyone had long since packed and left. And this meant that the showers were empty, which of course meant that the hot water was … hot.
We sat there briefly then both of us said in unison, “We have to take showers before we drive home.”
So we drove to the Live Oak camping area, where we knew the bathrooms and showers were new and shiny. And we got our clean clothes and our soap and our shampoo and our towels, and we went into the doors on the opposite sides of the building.
This time I did have soap. And this time I did have shampoo. And having stopped at the park store the day before, this time I even had a razor.
And I’ll tell you this, it was one of the most glorious showers I’ve ever taken in my life.