Just Remember to Be Grateful

Honey, the hot water heater is leaking.

Um, as in just a little, right?

Nope, as in it's all over the floor, and I've got some towels soaking it up.

7:30 AM, and all my cylinders now popped into action. With a few muttered not so nice words, I began pulling on clothes to see how I could help.

Down one level of steps, and a dripping noise caught my attention. Pausing to listen, I thought that Phil had pretty much made it clear that the water heater was not "dripping" water. Still, I hoped that maybe he had managed to stop the flow, but the noises from the next level down told me I might have false hope.

Wandering into the kitchen, I watched in horrid fascination as the kitchen faucet's steady dripping morphed into a stream.

Honey...the kitchen faucet is leaking as well.

Further investigation revealed the two water incidents were not connected, but instead, two distinct problems. Nice.

And, then, the upstairs toilet flushed itself, reminding both of us that it, too, was on today's agenda of problem solving opportunities. 

Phil managed to get the water heater shut down and the mess cleaned up.

An awkwardly place vise grip ensured a supply of cold water, which at this point, was better than no water at all. At the same time, it stopped the ongoing flow. Realistically, the kitchen faucet should be an easy fix, with a short trip to Home Depot to obtain a new faucet and the parts needed for the toilet repair.

Note, that I wrote "should be," because a mechanic was at that very moment, trying to fix its AC, which he thought he'd fixed, but a short trip on Friday let us know that, nope, the AC still didn't care to work during this heat wave. We are a one car family, so, pretty much we were now housebound with no hot water, a broken hot water heater, a dripping kitchen faucet, and self flushing toilet.

And, then I learned how much I took for granted.

I couldn't take a hot shower or wash my hair. Well, I could, but that water would be mighty cold.

Laundry that required at least warm water needed to wait.

Breakfast clean up would be tricky.

I couldn't even hop in the car and run away from it all.

And, that tiny bit of extra money tucked away after careful budgeting went flying out the window.

A year or so ago, I would have gone ape you know what crazy. There would have been weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Many deep breaths.

Even more prayers for strength and patience.

More deep breaths, but I began to realize that it could be so much more worse.

The water heater broke while we both were home; we might have gone away, both have been working, ....you get the idea.

And, I did have water. Cold but clean water. So many people don't.

The extra bit of money vanished, but I could buy the needed parts.

I only had to wait a few days, and hot water would flow again.

I had food to eat and dishes on which to eat it.

Truthfully? Not fun, but we'd manage.

Most of all, even with all my work on remembering to be grateful, I realized I still had a lot more work to do. There is still far too much I take for granted.

As I type, I'm listening to clunking and other noises coming from our bathroom. The kitchen faucet will get fixed. Sometime this evening, a nice man will appear and install a new water heater.

I'll turn on the dishwasher, take a hot shower, and begin to do the laundry.

And, before I go to sleep, I'll remember to write down a few things for which I'm thankful, because despite the weekend of non working needed things, I've got a good life.

Scratch that.

I've got a really really good life filled with a ton of blessings.

P.S. Why the buttercups? Because they're bright, cheerful, and remind me of our recent beach trip. They're one of the blessings I pictured in my mind when I needed to take those deep breaths!