At first I just shrugged. Here I was reducing the water flow and I did not even have to install a fancy water saving device. Eventually I asked the other members of the household. 

"Does the water pressure seem bad to you?"

It was irritating but we are not known for calling the repairman for anything less than an outright emergency. Like when the pipes burst in a poorly insulated wall and the thermometer would not climb above 50. I brought the kids into my mother's apartment just to make it through the day. I think he felt sorry for us and our three preschoolers, and shaved a corner off the bill.

But when one of our kids came home for Christmas and another one moved home again they were appalled. Polite, but clearly the showering experience was less than pleasant. I thought John would make the appointment. He thought I would. In any case we went another month, until personal hygiene was reduced to camping style. We filled a five gallon bucket and mopped our bodies down. Still I was saving money on conditioner. I had not used it in six months. Who could bear to prolong the agony past the rinse repeat? 

It seemed ironic that when the daughter who moved home was offered another place to stay for six weeks one of the things her friend mentioned involved the bathroom.

"The water pressure is amazing!" That clinched it. 

The plumber came Thursday. I asked if the brutal weather was keeping him busy. Silly of me to make conversation when I am paying him more for a minute of his time than I make in ten, but I had bonded to him. He was fixing my life. 

Half a grand later we had enough water to feel like Niagra Falls. 

There is one show I watch with the twins. Usually everyone keeps their clothes on but this past episode included a raunchy few minutes that we turned off the screen for. I was mad. Why have media morals trickled down to nothing? 

When I was little it was different. I watched Andy of Mayberry and Dick van Dyke. Even the people who were supposedly married had pajamas more modest in the "privacy" of their bedroom than what appears in 2014 daytime television. 

It happened gradually enough. Certainly my older kids, who grew up without a screen of any kind, have acclimated to the sexual onslaught without blinking. 

Still I wonder what would an outsider think, someone from a culture or planet where marriage is sacred and sexuality is held as an intimate dance between committed partners, if they came to visit. They might be appalled.