Shower? -By Wade

My first grade teacher was Mrs Meservy, I don't know how I got the mean old lady instead of, the pretty and nice, Mrs Hampell, but I did. Not only did I get freaked out by my older siblings about the woman she seemed to have it out for me (probably because of my older siblings).

Saturday nights were the night we "got ready for Sunday" this was the one day of the week when we had to shower, it was mandatory. We would take turns sometimes or we would bathe together. I remember actually being taught my home address and phone number in the bath by my older sister. As for the rest of the week we could play in the dirt, cow pastures and irrigation ditch with out as much as a hand wash.

One day in first grade Mean Mrs meservy stood up in class and announced we were to have a hygiene lesson. She introduced the "crazy" idea that we should bathe more often than once a week. This was a foreign concept and figured she must be talking to some one else because I was at least as clean as Cody. Then she dropped the bomb shell, in her meanest voice and looking directly at me she said "you have to change your underwear every day because nobody wants to smell like pee." I was dumbfounded I couldn't think of one reason why you had to change your underwear more than once a week. My underwear barely had any streaks in them after a week and I certainly couldn't smell myself. It wasn't until years later about 3rd grade before I discovered the shower and all of it's benefits.

When I was 12 I decided that hygiene was important and would try to shower in the morning. The problem was that we had 6 other older sibling who also showered in 1 shower. the shower was sheet rock and had a cement drain, the paint on the walls was always peeling the paint on the ceiling was cracked like a dried up lake bed and paint delicately hung waiting for someone to brush it so it could fall to the drain. The wall next to the laundry room did not reach the ceiling there was never any real privacy. If you were too long in the shower or took too much warm water you regularly received a cold bucket of water from the laundry room into the shower and would receive more water until the shower was ended.