The Life of Luxury

I did something this morning I haven't done in almost a week.  I got up this morning (which is great in itself considering I spent  a half hour "on the slopes" with Evan yesterday, riding down a hill with nothing but an inch of fine powder snow and a eight inch of plastic between my skinny old ass and the frozen tundra) and climbed into my own hot shower. Since our pipes froze on Monday I haven't been able to get up, walk a few feet into our bathroom, a take a nice hot shower.

We are luckier than most folks, however, because we have 2 other showers available-- a couple more at the office if it ever got real serious. What I'm whining about here is the inconvenience of having to grab a towel and walk down the hall. The inconvenience I'm whining about here pertains to not being able to roll out of bed and into a hot shower. The inconvenience I'm whining about here is-- in a word-- petty.

I realized all this after climbing into that previously frozen shower and feeling such absolute pleasure and joy at having such luxury at my disposal.  As I thought about it I realized such luxury is not about what one deserves. It's certainly not about what one needs. It is, however, about what I want and what I can have and what I choose to consider important.

I know at the very same time I'm thinking about all this, the hot water and suds spiraling down the drain, there are millions and millions of people going without. There are children freezing in refugee camps. There are children in the U.S. without the means or the parental oversight to get them washed up, let alone a hot shower. There are elderly and disabled who are unable to bathe for lack of assistance.

Like the starving kids in China my Mother would reference when we didn't clean our plates and left food wasted, my enjoying a hot shower just a few short steps from my bed doesn't rob anyone else of their shower. But it should, and does, make me realize and appreciate what a luxurious life I enjoy. And that's something I should remember without freezing the pipes.