Why I Do It

I like taking really, really hot showers. I like showers so hot that they make my skin bright red after only a few seconds. I like it when the steam covers every available inch of the bathroom mirrors within five minutes.
Then just as the water is starting to go cold, I like to turn all the hot water off and stand under the completely freezing water. It feels amazing in the way that it used to feel when I was a kid, and I would walk the five blocks in the June (read 115+-degree) heat wearing my bathing suit under a giant t-shirt. I was clutching my towel and the dollar that I had to pay my admission and for a snack during the day.

My skin would be on fire by the time I had put my stuff in a locker and run outside. I would jump right in, rather than using the steps to walk in by degrees. And it felt like a miracle. My hot skin, so hot that if I could have jumped right out again I would have steamed, would turn pink from the change in temperature. And I would stay in the water until it didn't feel cold anymore, except that when you get out and the little breeze hits you, it's cool again.

So, I like that cold blast of water, because it's a swimming pool in Phoenix in the middle of June.