The Evergreen Journal #23

Calgon, Takes Me Away!

Photo courtesy of Pexels.
photo by Bulat Khamitov

July 8, 2022

“Calgon, Takes Me Away”

After working outside in my gardens on a hot summer day, I enjoy a nice relaxing bath. As I step into the tub, I often think of the slogan that became popular in 1978. I realize it’s been about four decades after the Calgon Bath Powder advertisements became a standard in the lives of American families. When people speak of a tough day, they often remark, “Calgon, Take Me Away! The slogan is part of the American landscape and lexicon. It’s a great product and I’ve used it in my bathwater over the decades. Some things just never disappoint us, and Calgon is one of those reliable things in my personal life.

Our upstairs bathroom has the original claw-foot porcelain-clad iron bathtub. This graceful beauty was installed as the house was being built in 1929 by local carpenters for the new owners, John and Amanda Duncan. I sometimes think of the Duncan’s when I step into that tub’s sweet-smelling warm water.

I sprinkle some Calgon Bath Powder into my water. Then, I add a pump full of Philosophy Frosted Snowflakes bubble bath  to my warm water. This combination is just perfect for a nice long afternoon bath.

And, I think about the many people who have bathed in that old tub over the years. I wonder if they loved it as much as I do. This old tub has brought comfort to more people than I would ever know for nearly a century.

Another unusual aspect of taking a bath in the vintage tub is that it is a “prayer closet” for me. It is my secret place where I am closest to God. My prayers begin to pour out when I am inside the tub. They are prayers of thankfulness for the comfort, warmth, and refreshment of the water I am lying in.
I move on with my prayers to begin to pray for other people who come to my mind. As I think about them, I pray for healing, safe travels, protection, and salvation for each person. Finally, I pray for family members and name them to God as I speak of them.

Bath time is prayer time for me. I often joke about the tub as my prayer closet. It truly is a place where I feel close to God. This tub is a holy refuge when I stop whatever I am doing to pray. I enter into it’s comfort with a thankful heart.

Recently, I went upstairs to have my wonderful bath time. As I undressed, I looked around and considered where I should put my Guardian alarm that is on a chain necklace. I thought about what could happen if I had a fall in the bathroom and no one was there to help me. With that in mind, I decided to lay the pendant on the bathroom floor. My reasoning was that if I fell and could not get up to push the button to get help, I could have access to it if it was on the floor. I don’t know why, but I had never thought about this before. But now that my husband is in a memory care facility, I have to think of the little things that could be important. There  are so many little things I never thought about before. My mind swirls around like the water splashing into the bath tub some days. I gently laid my pendant on the cool tile floor. I placed it beside the bath mat. There! I thought this should be just right.

In just a few minutes after I got into the tub, the phone rang.  I disregarded it because I was not going to get out of the tub to go pick up the phone.  In a few more minutes, the phone began to ring again.  I continued to ignore that one, too.

I settled down and began to have my prayer time again. So let’s see, what was I praying about?

In a few minutes, there was a knocking on my kitchen door. Well, I can’t jump out of the tub to see who is at the door. Again, more knocking.
With a sigh, I got out of the tub and tip-toed across the floor to have a peek out of the window. Since I am visually impaired, I can’t see what is in the driveway, but it looked enormous. Maybe a truck, I thought. At this moment, I noticed a dark-clad figure walking from the driveway to the house. I thought it’s probably a delivery person but who is knocking at the door?

I dripped across the slippery floor. Whoever it is will just have to come back again since I can’t run downstairs naked.

However, they did not go away. In a few minutes, the knocking began on my front door. I held my breath. Then, it started again – very loud and determined knocking.

At this point, I grabbed a long nightgown that was on the back of the bathroom door. Put it on quickly and went down the stairs as the knocking continued.

I cracked  the door open just enough to see a woman EMT standing there in anticipation of what she might find as I opened the door.

“Your alarm has gone off, and we are here to answer your call for help,” she said.
What, “I asked.
“We are here to see if you are OK,” she said as she turned to her right to indicate the man who was coming up onto the porch to help us.

In a flash, I realized that someone else was in that bathroom when I got in the tub.  I had not noticed because she’s so quiet. Yes! That has to be what happened.

I apologized profusely, and we were all laughing as I said,

“Oh, No! My cat, Opal, was in the bathroom with me when I was taking my bath. She must have stepped on the button on my alarm pendant!”

I added, “Well, we all know for sure that this pendant is working now!” We all had a good laugh over the accidental call for help. “It’s OK,” the woman assured me.  “It is not a problem at all.” I could see that they were glad that I was OK, but I still felt embarrassed that they had to come on a false alarm. I was also thankful that it was only a false alarm, and that I did not need their help.

You can be sure I will never again lay my emergency alarm pendant anywhere that a cat can step on it again.

This is one more Calgon get-a-way that has a happy ending.

Please come back next Friday for my next article in The Evergreen Journal.  This is a new series of memoirs that I am writing each week in 2022.

And, let me know what you think.

Do you have a unique place where you go to pray?

Do you have a secret place where you can be alone with God?

I love to get your feedback!

©Lynda McKinney Lambert, July 8, 2022. All rights reserved.

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American Author –  Lynda McKinney Lambert.

Bio: Lynda, a retired professor, authored 5 published books that focus on spare poems and thoughtful personal essays.

Lynda cares for  2 dogs and 6 cats, all rescued. Lynda’s predilection is nature, fine arts and   humanities.

Lynda is married to Bob Lambert and they celebrated sixty-one years of marriage in April 2022.