Cbustapeck was right – reminding me that taking a shower is a wonderful feeling… maybe even comparable to dancing on acorns.

I remember the last time I got my hair cut short - a good five or six inches off. I remember how foreign my shower felt that first night, that first moment when I stepped into the stream of water and suddenly the familiar feel of wet hair clinging to my shoulder blades was gone.

My neck and back were naked and my head was light and off balance.

I remember how frustrated I was when I realized I had taken too much shampoo and my head was a mess of fluffy strawberry bubbles. Juicy strawberry smelling shampoo, almost intoxicatingly sweet, was dripping in the form of suds down my neck where my hair should have been. I was furious that I had wasted shampoo but then this bitter negativity faded into a childish curiosity at the thought of my foamy strawberry head.

I began drawing faces on the walls and blowing bubbles off my fingers. I realized I hadn’t shaved my legs in… wow, three weeks? I was never in the mood. Now I patiently, cautiously went over every curve of my leg while strawberry suds dripped into my ears.

When I had finished shaving I realized how warm the shower really was. As I bid farewell to the frothy strawberry bubbles washing down the drain. The smell, the air, it was too heavy. I had to hit the handle. Cold water bit my scalp. Fuck! I breathed deep and gingerly turned the handle back towards the letter H. when I reached my happy medium, like Goldilocks, not too hot, not too cold, I stood there and let the water bead down my body for a few minutes longer. I ran my fingers through my newly cropped mop and thought perhaps it wasn’t so bad at all.

Turning off the water, I remained in a cloud of warm, saturated air and dreaded going back into the world. As I opened the shower door the cold air rushed at me and instantly began pulling my comforting water away. No time to stand around! You must dry up now! Hurry hurry or it will just seem colder!

But I didn’t want to give up that warm comforting feeling! So with haste I threw on my oversized terrycloth robe and leapt from the bathroom to my bedroom and into bed. Water seeping into pillow case, a little dash of leftover forgotten strawberry foam dripping from my ear, I fell asleep.