Karen Wils photo Even the beagles have their own towels and soap for bath time in the basement.

ESCANABA — Bubbles, bubbles, suds and soap –this is a squeaky clean column!

Nothing feels as awesome as a nice, refreshing shower after a day of raking, yard work and spring time clean-up.

The indoor “rain room” is certainly a luxury that I couldn’t do without. There are a lot of modern conveniences I CAN easily do without, like the TV, computer, phone and microwave, to name a few.

But the shower is a blissful sanctuary after a day in the woods or a hard day of work. Warm water, scented soap and peace and quiet — you can’t get better than that!

Showers have changed a lot over the years, though. If you think back to your earliest memories of having a “shower” at home or at your grandparent’s house, you will notice some changes.

Today’s teens would “freak out” if they had to use the old-fashioned shower with the hanging curtain, rubber plug, back brush and a single bar of soap!

I live with two bright, active and fun young adults (and one slightly grumpy older fella), so I know all about this shower thing.

Kids nowadays are way dirtier than kids of a few generations back. Even though youth of today spend more time indoors, by screens or on phones, they stink way more than teens back in grandma’s day.

My daughter is only a small person, yet she has six or more kinds of soap that she uses in the shower every day! Two kinds of shampoo, two kinds of conditioner, liquid body wash, exfoliating scrub, shaving cream and even “Black African” soap sits on our shower ledge!

I think she has a special soap for every part of her body.

Back in the olden days, when I was a kid, my dad built a shower room in the basement of our home. With six youngsters coming in from “Ore Crusher Hill” or “the Bay Shore” or the garden, the soap and water were in demand.

We had one bar of Lava Soap for greasy grimy and one bar of Dial Soap for in-the-shower use. Shampoo was rationed! As kids, we had to stick our hands out of the shower room door and say “shampoo, Dad.”

Then, Dad would squeeze a dime-sized circle of shampoo into the palms of our hands. My Dad always said that if my brothers got a hold of the whole bottle of shampoo, they’d for sure squirt it all done the drain!

To this day, my sister and I razz my dad because we got the same amount of shampoo to use on our long “girl” hair as my brothers got for their summer “butch” hair.

Music, massage spray and plenty of towels accompany most modern showers. Foaming soap, tea tree shampoo, and Herbal Essences conditioners transform the bathroom into a spa.

When the kids were small, we had to fight to get them clean; now that they are young adults, we can’t get them out of the shower!

Now that the water rates are going up, my husband threatens to install timers on the showers.

In the meantime, pass the “Irish Spring,” a person can never be too clean!

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.