"Stop and Smell The Body Wash": Mundane Moments and The Lessons Found In Little Things
I missed the feeling of water on my face, the hot embrace hugging me.
I even missed its arena-like atmosphere, where my melodious tones and angelic voice would echo off the walls during my regular (and of course manly) singing sessions, especially if I had a song lodged in my head.
In all seriousness, I mostly missed showers because I was getting really sick of bathing in bed with a bottle of foam soap, a bin of luke-warm water, and wash cloths.
It got the job done, don’t get me wrong, but relaxing and soothing it was not.
Not to mention, hospital beds… Well, they just don’t have that same acoustics as tiled showers.
The voice simply refuses to carry from the bed, ya know? Hospital beds just weren’t made to accommodate my “dulcet tones”, as Dad likes to say. Trust me, I tried.
But that all changed Tuesday, nearly thirty days in.
Brian, one of the male nurses I’d come to know, wheeled the shower chair beside the bed. With a smirk, he eyed me and lobbed a plastic bottle.
“Here,” he said with his usual sarcasm, as it arced across the room. “I think you’ll really like this. Enjoy!”
I caught the bottle deftly with one hand before it hit my crotch.
Soft hands as always, I thought proudly, hoping Brian noticed the grab. Still got it, Dad!
I flipped it over. Swathed in soft colors, the label had a gentle babbling brook with a delicate image of a flower.
Typical body wash bottle art.
“Lavender Lilly! Oh, how thoughtful of you! You really shouldn’t have. Honestly.”
“Had a feelin’ you’d like it. What’s it been, three, four weeks now?” Brian made a foul face. “Better double up, Mike. Two rounds should do it…”
I rolled my eyes.
“On second thought, better make it three.” Said Brian authoritatively.
“That bad, huh? Damn!”
Brian smiled and pushed the shower chair closer against the bed.
“We all have our limits. Week three was mine.” He confessed. “Get your ass in that shower, will ya?”
With a shower on its way that proved to be everything I hoped it’d be and more, plus some refreshingly light-hearted banter with a nurse who knows when its needed, it was one of those moments during a long hospital stay that makes you forget about why you’re there.
It was a happy moment.
While my overall attitude during my MCV/VCU Hospital residency was, for the most part, a positive one, times like these, where you can laugh, joke with someone, and be yourself, helped me to maintain that mindset and keep working hard to reach the goals I’d set weeks ago—graduation, independence, and normalcy…new normalcy.
Though I hadn’t quite reached those particular goals as of that Tuesday evening, I was close, very close.
And thanks to Brian and a friendship based on sarcasm and shit-talk, my hospital stint sucked a little less.
It’s amazing what little things can do for the bigger picture and how powerful they can be.
Like a bottle of Lavender Lilly Body Wash.