Joy in ordinary moments

Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?

There were many tender moments and moments of love which gave me profound joy. There were moments of joy when I had a different experience with my family members. Seeing a person walk after a long period of inactivity is pretty inspiring. But the moment which stands out as really joyful...

It is silly. One of the recommendations given to us by the occupational therapist was to install a shower that had zero thresh hold, and large enough for a rolling shower chair. This meant, removing the old shower, refinishing the walls, leveling the floor, installing a drain where it could be serviced, and of course the plumbing. I am a DIY person.

As I researched the available type stock shower stalls on line, all had the drain in a place that would have been inaccessible for installation. My arm was not long enough.

I had read somewhere about installing ceramic tile showers. My experience with tiling had been limited to floors and walls adequately installed and serviceable, not necessarily pretty.

We went for it anyway, with a vague idea about how it should work. We used beveled siding to form the edges of the shower floor and covered that with frostguard. We cut a hole for the drain where we wanted it. We affixed the drain to a piece of cement board, and cemented everything in place, trying to make sure that the drain was a little lower than the rest of the shower floor, and the outer edge of the shower was low enough for a wheeled chair to roll over, but high enough so water would stay in the shower... all iffy at best.

I purchased some stone tiles, cemented them down, grouted them, with great apprehension. Is the drain low enough, will I have a waterfall cascading over the shower thresh hold into the rest of the bathroom? With these thoughts in mind, I waited a day. Then I put up the shower curtain. I turned on the water, and to my amazement, there was a soft trickle of water into the drain as I showered. There was no flood in the bathroom area.

That was the best shower that I had in days, and that was sheer joy in an ordinary moment of life.