So, our family is traveling—seeing a little bit of our new country. Our travels required us to go several hours through the desert. As an aside, I will never complain about driving I-16 through Georgia again.
Hours of endless sand—it is awesome, but it can make you feel so small and also sleepy. But you’ll be happy to know I stayed awake the whole time while husband dear did the driving (I’m a team player =)). Anyway, I’ve never really thought much about the words “pit stop.” It just meant a break from the driving, time to grab something to eat, go to the bathroom, etc. I now have a new appreciation for the term. You see up until this point I’ve been relatively impressed with the facilities around here. Sure they’re a little different, but almost always there’s been a western-style toilet in the mix. But I guess I’ve only been to the facilities in stores and restaurants and not gas stations. Enter the squatty-potty and the reason for the title of my blog.
I’ve used squatty-potties before—no big deal once you get the hang of it. However, it’s a different experience convincing our four and three year old girls that they aren’t that bad. First of all there’s the logistics problem. They’ve got to get their feet on the raised foot pads to be over the “potty” and then not touch anything because the floor is wet (no toilet paper only water to wash yourself). Also, things are complicated by their clothing—I forgot to put them in dresses so I’ve got to help balance them, keep them from touching anything, keep their clothes out of the line of fire, hold the toilet paper (which I brought just in case) and coach them to, “Go ahead and go.”
Now it’s hard enough to go under these circumstances, but you add in a shy bladder, the heat, the smell, the line of people outside the door waiting to go, and the fact that I’m in their faces trying to help them--it’s the stuff future counseling sessions are made of…poor girls they did manage to go, but we may have to have a few pep talks before our next big trip.