How outdoor baths helped get us through cancer
When Anthony was sick, life got very small.
For a long time, we couldn't really go anywhere. Everything revolved around treatment, appointments, medications, side effects, waiting, hoping, and trying not to fall apart.
Outdoor baths became one of the few things we could still do together.
A small thing that felt like an event
Not a big outing. Not a big plan. Not something that required energy we didn't have. Just a way to step outside the house and feel like we were doing something beautiful, even when life was brutal.
Indoor baths are wonderful too. But take a bath outside and it becomes an event. You haven't really gone anywhere, but somehow it feels like you have.
That mattered when we were so housebound.
When everything else felt medical
Chemo, immunotherapy and the whole menagerie of drugs that come with serious illness can make your body feel like it doesn't belong to you anymore. Anthony's skin was sensitive. His energy was all over the place. Everything felt medical.
But a bath was gentle. I could see the weight come off his shoulders as he slid in.
It gave us time to sit and talk, or not talk. To watch the light change. To feel like ourselves again, and like a couple, not just two people trying to get through another brutal day.
What kept us connected
We survived on a few simple things: beach walks at sunset, ocean dips when Anthony was well enough, and baths outside.
They kept us connected. To ourselves, to each other, and to nature. They helped us feel like we were still living a beautiful life, even when things were incredibly hard.
Where Star Baths came from
That is really where Star Baths came from.
Not from a trend. Not from wanting something fancy. From knowing, very personally, how much a simple outdoor ritual can change the shape of a day.
And now we get to share that feeling with other people.
Which still feels pretty miraculous, to be honest.
