Bathtub Closet


The private massage appointment is confirmed. My client will be here at 5pm. It is 3:30pm now. I stand in the door to my office, with arms akimbo, legs slightly apart, a fierce look of determination on my face. My eye sweeps across pile after pile of papers, books and art supplies that cover all surfaces in the office.

I wish I could click my heels three times or twitch my nose like Bewitched and have everything put in its place. Ah, but there lies the true challenge. Everything shares the same space with everything else! I haven’t enough room to accommodate all my projects, teaching supplies and massage equipment.

My 1950’s size closets; the whole two of them in my cottage, have been carefully arranged but can hold no more. As I pick up each pile of papers and lay them one on top of the other, layering them, vertical and then horizontal in a rising tower to the ceiling, I grumble about how after the massage, I will spend another hour rearranging all my piles once again along every surface of my office before I can actually get back to planning my classes, writing my book or paying my bills.

Where is Mary Poppins with her “get down to business” English attitude? I imagine her singing me a chipper tune as she snaps her fingers and the walls of the room spin to reveal a parallel space, all tidied in that fantasy movie kind of way. And then with just another snap of her fingers, the room returns to my neat pile after pile décor.

But daydreaming about fictional characters saving me from my task at hand, is not stopping the second hand on the clock from ticking away the time. When I moved into my cottage after living in a much larger home, I knew storage would be an issue. I purged and recycled like a true simple living guru. And yet my challenge persists. I am a creature of many interests that each requires a certain amount of paperwork, supplies and equipment.

I guess it wouldn’t be as big an issue if I were fine with leaving stacks of papers on my desk. But I prefer as uncluttered a look as possible to my office, when I’m giving a massage. People come to de-stress, let go of the disorder in their bodies and lives. I want my “room used for many purposes” to reflect, a relaxed, open, and, serene feeling. I also want to keep the rest of my life as private as possible. Having your bank statements, personal journals and overscheduled calendars lying around offers easy reading material as a client sits in the office chair, next to the desk and puts on their shoes after a massage.

That is why I have come to love my bathtub closet. What an under used space the bathtub is! Since I live alone, and shower on average once a day, this roomy space, actually bigger than my closets, goes unused. I have devised a quick and easy way to line the tub with an old shower curtain, before placing my piles, hanging my clothes or loading in the cat carrier. With a sweep of the shower curtain along its pole, my stacks are neatly hidden, my office now transformed into an unadorned, soothing healing space.

The massage is over and as I reassemble my office to its original, navigate through the piles to get to the desk functionality, I muse once more about Mary Poppins. I love the way she has the massage sheets dancing their way down the alley to the communal washing machine.