how did it come to this?

I live in a house that holds three people: me, Mom, Dad.

I have no siblings. I have no grandparents or uncles or cousins that live here.

I do not live in a mansion. There are no wings in my house. It's pretty much a square with a very small set of steps. You can hear nearly every other part of the house wherever you're standing.

I always know who's in the house and what they're doing.

So why in the hell does someone always seem to turn water on elsewhere in the house while I'm showering, spraying me with cold liquid unexpectedly?

That is one of my biggest pet peeves. If I was in a situation where someone might not know I'm showering, that's fine; I get it. It's not so much the cold water that bothers me. It's the fact that you can HEAR the water running everywhere in my house. You KNOW I'm taking a shower, yet you continue to flush the toilet or wash dishes.

I’ve finally got a routine down for the morning that puts me at ease and in an okay mood to get to work. I was into that this morning and in the middle of showering when BOOM – cold water.

It’s 7:30. Dad is downstairs, Mom is in bed sleeping. The house is silent.

Can you NOT hear the WATER running? Did you not hear me SLAM the bathroom door purposely, signaling that I was going to be showering?

No. No. Of course you didn’t.

So there I was in the shower, having just rubbed soap all over my face, blindly groping for the handle to crank it full blast, but not too much because then when the water kicks back in my skin will burn off. And let’s never mind the fact that it’s already only twenty degrees outside and the cold water doesn’t help. And I’m running ten minutes late.

Thanks Dad. Happy Friday to you, too.