Tiny Bubbles

We have a hot tub sitting in our back yard patio that came with a house my parents bought several years ago.  Growing up in a large family, a swimming pool or hot tub were things we only seen on television or magazines.  In reality, the only hot tub we had was the actual bathtub; I guess you can consider it a hot tub depending on the temperature of the water that actually filled the tub.

Anyhow, one summer day the heat was pretty sweltering so my 34 year-old-sister, my younger brother and I decided to experience the hot tub outside that was located under the patio shade. Because of the nature of my sister’s illness, heat was the enemy.  Summer season and hot showers were a few things my sister could not longer experience since it would cause her to become very fatigued. The water of the hot tub wasn’t really hot so we knew it cool us off from the heat of the day. My 34-year-old sister suffered from MS but at the time the disease had not become too aggressive.   So with assistance, she was able to walk to the back yard and with the help of my brother and I, got into the hot tub.  She looked a little nervous at first as she floated to the edge of the tub, then she found a comfortable corner of the tub and started to relax.  I then proceeded to go in the tub and gave a piercing cry out when I felt the cool temperature of the water.

“The water feels good to me,” said my sister with a grin.  “It’s cold!” I replied. “I know, isn’t great!” she said.

My brother came out with a sugar free sodas for us and a camera.  “Cheers!” he said as my sister and I raised our soda cans for picture pose.  Once I got used to the water’s chilling temperature, I finally started to relax with the company of my sister in the hot tub.  “Isn’t this fun?” I asked my sister.   “Yeah, it feels so cool, I love it.” she replied.

As we sat in the hot tub I couldn’t help but notice all the bubbles as we sat in the tub and talked.  It seemed that the bubbles just surround my sister as she sat in the tub.  I knew the hot tub had jet streams but I was leery on how many bubbles were being created in the tub.  “I wonder where are all these bubbles coming from?” I asked my sister.  “I don’t know.” she replied.  As time past on and my sister became more comfortable in the hot tub, she started to move from one side of the tub to the other.  As my sister moved, a stream of bubbles would follow her and appeared only to settle around her. 

“ What’s up with these bubbles?” I mumbled to myself.  The bubbles started to fill the hot tub surface.  A gentle warm breeze blew as we sat in the hot tub and with it came a subtle hint of Tide that filled the air.

“How much detergent to you use when you wash your clothes?” I asked my sister.  “I don’t know”, she answered as she to move away from me to the opposite side of the hot tub. 

That is when I realized that the bubbles were not from the hot tub but were coming my sister's clothes; she must have used too much laundry detergent when she washed her clothes. 

“The bubbles are coming from you!  You must have used too much detergent when you washed your clothes,” I said.

“Okay! It’s me alright!” snapped my sister.  At that moment I realized that my questions about the bubbles made her feel embarrassed. I was just really trying to figure out where the bubbles were coming from and I had not intent of hurting her feelings. 

“I’m sorry Mamas, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.  I was just wondering where the bubbles were coming from.”

“Okay”, she said.

So on that day as we soak in the cool hot tub and drank our sodas, talked and laughed, we had a bonus of bubbles courtesy of my sister.