The other day, as water drained slowly in my tub, my Mom looked at it and remembered a story from my youth. She told me that I slipped in a tub full of water and my Dad pulled me out. She asked me if I remembered it. I’m not sure if I remembered it or if I remember people talking about it when I was young. I’m pretty sure I remembered it though.
Here is the deal; One of my older brothers had a fever so my Mom had filled the tub with cool water to let him soak. The tub was still filled with water. This is the part I remember, I had just learned how to lock the bathroom door. We had a flap that if you lifted it up and turned it and put it down, the door will be locked. I remember looking at the tub and touching the water. I bent over so my face was almost to the water and I fell in.
My Dad was on the side of the house probably getting ready to cut the grass and he heard something fall into the tub of water. He immediately came to the bathroom. I had just locked so he used the palm of his hand to hit the door to knock it open. The indent of his palm stayed on the door until we replaced it. He came in, saw me floundering, and he grabbed me with one hand and flipped me up and I grabbed onto his neck.
I believe I remember actually doing this and remember being wet and clutching my Dad’s shoulder and neck; but I also remember my Dad telling me that story.
We talked about those events as we completed our routine. I started to laugh and I talked her about, “Tuuuuuub water!” My Dad was diabetic for my entire life and subsequently, he would drink a lot of liquid. He constantly had a glass of ice water with him. I was young and I couldn’t reach the kitchen sink but when he would ask to refill his water, I figured out that I could fill his cup with water from the tub. I thought it was so strange because that was where we got bathed but I asked him if it would be okay if I refilled his cup with water from the tub. My Dad had rearranged the hot and cold dials so the cold water was on the left because he had young kids.
I could reach the dial in the tub to refill his cup but I would always ask him first by asking him if, “Is Tuuuuuub water okay?” He would always kind of smirk a bit and I never knew why. As I got older, I understood. I’m not sure why I thought of that, it’s probably because I’ve been missing my Dad a lot lately.