Nathan and I resorted to heating water on the stovetop in a pot, then pouring the boiling water in a mixing bowl in our empty shower, and mixing it with cold water. We showered out of a mixing bowl - until Nathan realized that his gym had showers, and then only I showered out of a mixing bowl.
Also, having no hot water, we had no motivation to wash our dishes, either. They piled up on the countertops, causing me severe first-world conniptions.
One loving occasion, as I was having such a conniption, surveying the dirty kitchen, my husband was preparing to go to work. Lovingly, he attempted to comfort my anal retentiveness by telling me that I should just go and enjoy a warm shower... It was not funny. My hair was greasy, I smelled bad, and I had been bathing out of a bowl for five days, by that point. (But yes, we laughed.)
When we finally got our water heater replaced, the world was brand new. The hot water was HOT! It was like a miracle! Our moods lightened, I washed the dishes, and all the world was at peace.
There's nothing like that kind of humbling experience to really teach you the importance of gratitude. How often do you sit in your home and think, "Thank goodness we have a water heater." How often do we count our blessings, that our ceilings don't leak, that we haven't been electrocuted by our hair dryers recently, been called for jury duty, been pooped on by a bird, or had a serial killer move in next door? There are SO MANY things to be grateful for - and they're things you don't realize until things go horribly wrong.
So I'm writing a blog. (To some, this may be one of those instances where things have just gone horribly wrong.)
I want to be aware of the little things in life. I want to make myself aware, each day, that though sometimes life may seem to be like the water in a toilet bowl, ever spiraling downwards into the deepest pits of despair, going nowhere, there are, in fact, many things to be grateful for, or at least highly entertained by.
So there you have it. It's a blog.
