Showers

I'm not talking about rain.
No, I mean the bathing kind of showers.
In the morning, I sleepwalk out of my bed and into the bathroom, probably damaging quite a few limbs on the journey to bliss. I strip and stumble into the stream of hot water that massages my entire body and just happens to clean me in the process. I used to be terrified of this (yes, it's a strange fear) but I have long since grown quite fond of it. For a few minutes I just stand there while I'm roused from my sleep. Then it's time to get to work - well, sort of. I lather sweet-smelling shampoo into my hair, massaging my scalp, saying "wake up, brain!" to myself. Once my brain is saying "okay, okay, I'm up!", I turn around and let the hot water flow through my long hair, reaching the split ends of my hair only to travel even more down my back. After the shampooing is done, the conditioner ritual begins. I take the thick, creamy conditioner and squirt a giant dollop on my hand. Then I rub it into my hands and raise my hands to my hair. I start at the tips of my hair, working the thick substance into my hair all the way up to my roots. I allow the goo to soak in for exactly a minute, using that minute to put soap where it needs to go. Then I repeat what I did with the shampoo, letting the hot water run through my hair and down my back. Before I turn the source of relaxation off, I make the water super cold for a second. It feels like someone cracking an egg on my head, the cold water mixing with the hot, and then it's gone. I grudgingly dry myself off with a towel and step back into the real world, problems and all. But for a few moments in the morning, all I think about is shampoo, conditioner, and soap.