Who Uses ALL the Hot Water in Your House?

Nolan, Jeremy, Avery, Audrey

My grandson, Jeremy, lives with me and his mother. Three of his cousins (some of my other grandchildren) were visiting a few days ago and stood outside the bathroom waiting anxiously for Jeremy to get out of the shower so they could play with him. 

I explained to Audrey and Nolan that it sometimes takes a long time to use every last ounce of hot water, but I let them know that they could play with him when the hot water ran out, because that was Jeremy's cue to get out of the shower.

I learned about Jeremy's shower habit the day I announced to Jeremy and his mother that I was going to take a shower. Jeremy took that as an invitation to immediately jump in the shower, because what he heard was, "I'm taking a shower right now, so make sure I have no hot water, OK, Jeremy?" 

There I was, completely lathered in shower gel when the hot water ran out. My usual ten-minute shower became one minute and I had no choice but to rinse myself off with cold water and wash my hair in the sink after I had enough hot water. The devious part of me was tempted to turn on the hot water in all the faucets in the house the next time Jeremy took a shower, but I wouldn't have to (read on).

Jeremy reminds me of my sister, Kathy. When Cindy (my other sister) and I were young, we learned early on the exasperation of trying to take a shower after Kathy took hers. We'd get one minute – maybe – before the water ran cold.

The second Mom told us we had to take a shower, Cindy and I would scramble to get in first, because we knew that if Kathy, whose bedroom was across from the bathroom and therefore closer to the bathroom, got in first, we had no hope of ever taking a hot shower. Like Jeremy, Kathy feels she is clean only when every last drop of hot water has fallen from the shower head.

So Audrey and Nolan waited for Jeremy to get out of the shower, and long after I knew he'd used every last bit of hot water, I, too, began to wonder what was going on.

Audrey echoed my thoughts, "What's taking him so long?"

Jeremy hasn't perfected the timing of our hot water limits. He had waited until the end of his shower to shampoo his hair. 

I called out to him to find out what was going on. "I'm waiting for the hot water to come on again so I can get the shampoo out of my hair." 

"You're not going to get any hot water for at least another twenty minutes," I told him. And then I couldn't resist saying, "Now you know how I feel when I have to shower after you!" 

Maybe I'll run the dishwasher or a hot load of laundry the next time Jeremy takes a shower. No! I would never do that, but it tickles me to think about it. :)

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