The Bathroom Muse

While trawling the internet--something I do much too often--I came across this delightful little essay, "The Bathroom Muse" in the New York Review of Books blog.  It  made me think back to the bathrooms of my past.  In my childhood home, my mom kept a well thumbed copy of "Pride and Prejudice" on the hamper in the bathroom connected to her and my dad's bedroom.  It was her all time favorite book.  Somehow I doubt my father took advantage of its placement there. 

I don't remember reading in the hallway bathroom that my brother and I used at the end of the hall.  Mostly I remember retreating there to furtively smoke cigarettes.  I'd sit on the toilet and blow smoke out the window in the vain hope that no one would smell the evidence of my transgression.  The window looked out over the alley behind our house.  I could stare at the windows of the Seltzer family who lived across the way and imagine what was going on inside or watch the boys in the alley playing stick ball.   Maybe that's where I developed my penchant for staring out of windows.  One of my favorite activities is to sit in the window seat in my kitchen or bedroom or study.  Usually I have something to read on my lap but every now and then I take a break and look out to see what's going on outside, check the sky, watch the traffic.  It's never boring.