the end of an era

remember the night you stumbled into the bathroom half asleep, didn't turn on the light, trying to be as quiet as humanly possible to avoid waking anyone up? and what happens? you slip on a bath toy that was discarded from the tub earlier and overlooked. making you yelp first in shock, i mean what is this slimy thing on the floor? halfway down you realize it's baby mickey's wash rag. and you remember how much fun you had earlier in the evening fetching it 7890 times, much to your little ones glee. and hey, the fun still ain't over, as you crack your elbow on the sink, and bump your head on the towel rack...almost pee your pants, i mean you were going in for a reason. and teach most of your neighborhood a string of curse words one may never had previously imagined could work together.

how about the header you took out of the shower that day, because you had been too lazy to bend over and pick up the boat that was laying in there. it showed you who was boss, grab a towel, go to dry your hair BAM...now that's a pretty sight.

what did you do those times? if you were me you dreamed of 2 things, 1) the day you had your own bathroom..because noone would be allowed to bring toys in moms tub (hah! as if) and 2) the day there were no bath toys cluttering the bathroom.

well my friends my time has come. while doing the bathroom over, i took the shelf that housed the bath toys and placed it on the deck. the shelf is not going back into the bathroom, so i told youngest yesterday to pick out the ones he still used and we would keep them in a smaller bucket. he looked at me and he looked at the toys, he said "you know , i don't think i need them anymore. i usually take showers now and i never use them."

you could hear my heart break.....

i dreamed of this day for so long. when i was scrubbing "magic" bath finger paint off the walls, or picking up all 235 species Noah had on the ark. the day when the plumber had to pull an entire army guy, one leg, arm torso and head at a time from that curly part of the pipe. and as i sat with hair dryer to legos that i told them wouldn't float, or poured half the tub one cup at a time into the playland that would never stay suctioned to the side of the bath anyway. the days when i stood up from the tub aching because my back does not like to stay in that position for quite so long. and of course on the times i walked into the bathroom to see 15 years of bath toy accumulation scattered everywhere.

now thats it here, i have to admit i will miss it. those carefree evenings scrubbing dirty faces and that great smell their hair had when i took them out. even when they were a little older hearing them play and splash, hearing boat noises or guys fighting in the river. i'm sad to see it go.

now if i could just get them to learn to keep the water in the shower.....