yesterday afternoon right before we headed down to the playground with "team caldwell", magnificent touched my arm and said, "i will make you a bath tonight."

this isn’t a heavily coded language. it is his love language. magnificent loves ambience and loves creating a romantic bath. he also knows that i love baths, but for a variety of reasons, i am a shower woman.

the reasons?

1) i hate the feel our bathtub’s chippy paint leaves on my bottom. my modus operandi when bathing is to begin with shampooing my hair, then dry my hands on a conveniently nearby towel, leave in a conditioner while reading a glossy mag, and only when the bathwater gets uncomfortably cool, reluctantly drain the tub while shave legs and pits, and then have a refreshing coolish shower as a final rinse.

2) baths take a long time to clean up from

3) our bathtub is too small. i like full immersion baths and hate having bent cold knees sticking out of the tub. i like all over warm.

charles knows all this, knows i have had maybe five baths in the four years we have been in our flat, yet he planned around my persnicketiness. he kept the door shut while running the bath, so that steam filled the small room. he lit candles and placed a small table he had dragged to the edge of the tub so i could dry my hands and place my magazine on the edge when it came time to rinse off. he called me in and promised he would clean up everything, handed me O magazine and waltzed off, claiming he was sweating to death and needed cold air.

what was he talking about? this was perfect? i added some ginger bath bubble.

the water was very hot. i actually read the letters to the editor while standing, to get used to the heat. finally finally, i lowered myself in, did a quick shampoo, rinsed, conditioned, (also did a quick face scrub), then dried off my hands and drank a large glass of cold cold water that mc had also thoughtfully provided, picked up the magazine and read.

vanity fair has been my favourite magazine for a long time, but o is moving right up there. i read every single article, except for the occasional fashion piece. and dr phil, who i sometimes find avoids the question.

one of the articles focused on five women who either stayed with and rejuvenated relationships or got out of them. as magnificent and i approach seven years of marriage, i do admit to wondering if he is getting the seven year itch. i don’t think i am … with the end of infertility i like to think i got rid of those unhappy feelings. it’s hard when your husband works so much to wonder what is distraction caused by work, obligations, family, church, friends and world events, and what is distraction caused by overlooking.

i don’t think he is going through the seven year itch. i think he is busy. but i know he is magnificent.

the articles continued and i kept reading until i had to face the inevitable uncomfortable truth, the water was a mere lukewarm. and what’s this..ah yes, a hair on my arm was standing up, protesting the cold. my knees, which had been so contented above the water enjoying the heated sauna like air, were also complaining.

clunk went the magazine

tzing went the shower curtain

galump went the bath plug, as i tugged the chain with my toes and removed the seal

a semi cold brisk shower, and TUBGATE2005 was over.

i climbed out and in very un-tess like behaviour, cleaned up from my tub. it took magnificent 45 minutes to create TUBGATE, and me 10 minutes to clear up from it.

then i went outside, and found my husband snoozing. i thanked him and he mumbled, "okay", and that was that. i then ate dinner, and went to sleep, all awash with love.