Rub a dub, dub, three men in a tub, the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker. I am glad I don’t have to share tub water with the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker or anyone in my family.

A friend and I were discussing sponge baths recently. It was a slow conversation day. Nothing earth shattering seemed to be happening so our discussion centered on the problems of taking baths and showers with broken bones and casts. She recently had recovered from a broken foot.

I felt very lucky after talking with her. With help I can maneuver into my shower, unfortunately she had shower doors and a tub shower so she had to forgo showers for sponge baths until her foot healed. Six weeks of sponge baths would really … well, I’m not going to use the word.

As I was rub-a-dub dubbing by myself one morning I thought of my ancestors. My grandmother on the farm and my uncles did not have a bathtub. They did not have a shower. They did not have running water. They had a pump in the kitchen and an outhouse out the back door.

Our sponge baths last a short time while we are ill or disabled. We expect that we can have a bath or a shower every night. We look forward to wallowing in the bubbles or singing in the shower. When it was bath time before running water and bathrooms it was either sponge baths or portable bathtubs. My grandmother had to heat the water on the stove and fill the bath. It was a lot of work to take a bath. People shared bath water.

It was work to go to the bathroom. In the winter it was cold. The good thing about winter is I expect the outhouses didn’t have quite such an aroma. Then of course they also used chamber pots. In the summer it was hot and stinky and buggy. Of course we have all heard the stories about the use of catalogs for toilet paper. Thank you for toilet paper.

Today we aren’t happy with one bathroom, we have to have at least two. If you watch HGTV’s House Hunters many people like bathrooms with each bedroom. These house hunter people have to have deep whirlpool tubs and large walk in showers that have many jets. You could fit a party of people in some of the showers. Of course these bathrooms have to be up to date with the latest model sinks and countertops or they have to remodel.

I dream of these wonderful bathrooms too. Perhaps we should be satisfied that we have water coming out of the tap. Perhaps we should be satisfied that we have a toilet that flushes. My grandparents would probably be amazed at self flush toilets and bathtubs with jets.

Bath time is big business in 2009. Some new bathrooms are huge. Bathrooms are now built to spoil and pamper us. Luxury homes bathrooms are bigger than most of the rooms in my house. I was impressed on a dream home tour in Omaha one year. All the bathrooms had built in televisions. I can see the reason large homes have to have many bathrooms if there are televisions in the bathroom. Some people would have a tendency to sit on the throne until their program was over. Remember the banging on the bathroom door when someone else had to use the bathroom when we only had one bathroom in our homes?

When we are dreaming over today’s bathrooms we can’t forget about all the bath products that are made to indulge us as we shower or de-stress in our spa tub. Yes sponge baths just do not have the same effect on our mind and body.

Yes, bathroom life has changed since my grandparent’s day. I don’t often think of how lucky I am to have running water, a bath, a shower or even a toilet. There are still people today that are homeless or live in under developed countries that don’t have the bathroom luxuries that most of us have.

So turn on the tap, sing in the shower or wallow in your tub, but be thankful that you don’t have to rub a dub dub with the butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send e-mail to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net or visit her blog at www.justalittlefluff.blogspot.com.