man enough?

Despite the fact that there are 4 boys in my family, apparently I'm the only "man" in this house... or rather, I'm the only one with enough (you know what) to take a cold shower! Last night I boiled 3 pots of water for Josh and Caleb because they weren't man enough. And this morning, Mike could only wash his hair.

Now, taking a cold shower isn't exactly something I would volunteer to do just for the heck of it... but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do, right?

Here's a quick play-by-play:

Once the water touches your scalp, you experience a literal brain freeze that only intensifies as the water creeps into your ear. Half way into the shampooing process your head thankfully begins to numb, but the ice water that trickles into the ear canal continues to provide unexpected chills throughout the remainder of the shower. The frigid water that flows down your body is obviously more shocking in certain areas then others... I'll spare you the details on the "certain areas". But the initial shock of it is enough to invoke a variety of shrieks and squeals that even I didn't know I was capable of. Now comes the tricky part... First if all, rinsing the shampoo out seems to take forever, and I violently squeegee the foam off as fast as I can... but it just keeps coming. Even though I'm not quite sure if I got all the soap out, I can't bare any more so I turn off the water to condition and lather up with body wash. Thankfully, I feel warmer... either because the 72 degree air is warmer then the 50 degree water... or possibly because of the vicious scrubbing and friction of the loofa. Now, I'm literally covered in bubbles, and I'm wondering what I have gotten myself into. There's no way out! I must turn the cold water back on and submit myself to the torture once again.

Sidebar: Do you remember that feeling when you get out of a pool for a few minutes? And do you remember that upon getting back in, the water is significantly warmer... or at least it feels warmer?

Well, this is NOT the case with cold showers. Once I turned off the water, my body did indeed get warmer... but the water definitely did NOT! So, for the first 20 seconds of the rinsing-off-process, my mind flashed back in time to Girls Camp where we bathed in a pool that was fed by the run-off from a nearby glacier. It felt very similar. But finally, when the last bits of conditioner were dissolving from my hair, I am surprised by the feeling of calmness. The body convulsions have ceased, and the feeling of endurance is replaced by, dare I say, refreshment!!! Ha-haaaa... I had conquered the cold shower after all!

But man, do those dry, warm towels feet nice. I bundle up my hair in a towel as my scalp starts to thaw...

It's times like this that once again I am proud to be an Alaskan!!!