Brianna Walker

Bean burritos from the local gas station are how we have always celebrated our wedding anniversary. Sixteen years ago, for our second anniversary, we picked up burritos and then splurged — on ranch dressing and a hot tub.

That hot tub quickly became a part of our daily routine. As our schedules are all over the place, it is next to impossible to have that important family bonding time around the table. So our hot tub became our supper table. Nearly every night, regardless of when we’d find ourselves coming home, we’d spend 20 minutes soaking our weary bones and catching up on our day.

Vacation Bible school programs were created in that hot tub, as were Christmas presents, business ideas and vacation itineraries. We planned and dreamed of the future while we soaked away the cares and aches of the present in that hot tub.

Kids came along, and we still soaked nearly every night — along with rubber ducks, which eventually morphed into glow sticks. This has always been one of my most enjoyable moments of the day. Somehow in the moonlit darkness it is easier to share deep parts of your day with each other. Intense conversations become less awkward when everyone’s eyes are closed. And solutions to problems seem more attainable when your body is so relaxed. Studies have shown that hydrotherapy helps improve brain function. Perhaps that’s why Hippocrates and Homer were said to have visited the local hot springs to discuss the important topics of the day.

It’s also said that hydrotherapy was was used in ancient Egypt — wonder what those hieroglyphics looked like? Romans built bathhouses using natural hot springs, and the Japanese used water heated by magma from nearby volcanoes. For millennia, people the world over seem to have had a love for soaking in warm water, whether it’s to purify the body, bring good luck or just to relax.

It isn’t just humans that like to relax in hot, steamy water, though. A few years ago, we had the opportunity to visit Nagano, Japan, and see the monkeys jump around and splash in the onsens (hot springs). And some nights, sitting in the hot tub with two boys, I feel we must have brought those monkeys home with us! Most nights, though, it really is the best way to unwind. Studies show that regular spa sessions result in an 11% decrease in the stress hormone cortisone. Several sources claim that a 15-minute soak, 90 minutes before you go to bed, causes a drop in body temperature which helps you ease into a deep sleep. By lowering cortisone and getting better sleep, you are likely to experience fewer cravings and increased metabolism, which, studies suggest, mean that hot tubs can actually help you lose weight. Other research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that soaking for 30 minutes every day can have a positive impact on those with Type 2 diabetes. Other sources claim 15 minutes of soaking a day can reduce blood pressure.

I don’t know if it does any of those things — but it certainly brings our family closer together. It really has been our happy place, our laughing place, our crying place — our bonding place.

So imagine my horror when one evening we go out to soak — and it was empty! Our hot tub had cracked.

The next day, my husband gave it a thorough inspection before he broke the bad news — all good things must come to an end. After weeks of trying (with little success) to transition to real dinner-table conversation, we stopped at the gas station for our anniversary bean burrito and decided we’d skip the ranch and go straight for the hot tub. Our search began, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the origin of the modern hot tub actually has ties to agriculture. In the early 1900s, the Jacuzzi family immigrated from Italy to the U.S., where they designed pumps for aviation and agriculture (specifically for orange groves). They created one of the first submersible pumps. In 1956, one of the children of the Jacuzzi family developed rheumatoid arthritis. In an effort to reduce the child’s pain, the Jacuzzi brothers used their knowledge of hydraulics to create a hydrotherapy pump which would transform any bathtub into a spa.

Thanks to their development in the hot tub industry, our family is back to the future of socially bathing together again, just like the Romans of yesteryear. Hopefully it’s true what my grandma always winked to us cousins as she saved time and bathwater: “The family that bathes together stathes together.”