Why is it that when big things break down or go wrong, it seems to be at the worst possible time? I mean, have you ever had a flat tire or a washing machine explode on a quiet Monday morning when you happen to have the day off and all the service companies are open and available? Maybe we just remember the times that are the most inconvenient because they are the most memorable.
It reminds me of a Christmas Eve about 20 years ago now. We were celebrating with friends with lunch and a matinee and then returned home to play board games in our kitchen. That was the year we added a family room next to the kitchen where the garage was located. The builders had removed the garage and then left for the holiday weekend, planning the new framing to start the next workday after Christmas. We found out when we arrived home that our pipes had frozen, as they had been outside and not sufficiently insulated from the December temperatures. My handy husband took care of that and we felt pretty smug. Then it began to rain. Poured, actually, which we didn’t pay any attention to, as our game of Taboo was much more interesting.
We paid attention though, a lot of attention, when the rain started coming through our window like a waterfall. We had to go out in the rain and put up plastic sheeting. Well, the menfolk did that, while the girls stayed inside and mopped up the floor and put down beach towels.
Merry Christmas.
Then about two years later, we were hosting our niece’s wedding at our home. It was an outside wedding, with the reception outside as well, but we would need our kitchen to be organized and functional. So naturally, the morning of the wedding dawned clear and sunny and our kitchen sink clogged up. Thank goodness for plumbers who work on Saturdays and fixed that sink one half hour before the wedding march began!
About a decade after that, our sewer system completely backed up. Again, this was on a Friday night and coincidentally, we were hosting my side of the family’s first every family reunion. About 40 people were descending on us, mostly the next day. Several were staying in our home, and we guessed that they might all need to use a bathroom over the two day event. So again, plumbers that work on weekends were most appreciated.
I’m sure the overtime was appreciated by them.
So it came as no surprise to us when, on New Year’s Eve, about 7:30 p.m., we began to hear a disturbing clicking and popping sound from our utility room. We cautiously opened the door, and saw a cloud of steam hissing from our 11 year-old water heater. The clicking and popping sounds were coming from inside said water heater. This didn’t seem like a good thing to us, so we shut off the power to it. Now, it’s possible that some plumber somewhere would just love to work on New Year’s Day, or the holiday weekend, but we decided to rough it (thank goodness for the pandemic, right? Like who are we going to see, anyway?!). We heated water on the stove for sponge baths and used paper plates and made it an adventure.
We will replace that water heater, but at least we won’t do it on holiday pricing terms. I’m sure many other things have broken or stopped up in my life, it’s just that I only recall them when they were the most inconvenient (and most expensive).
I am honestly happy that the water heater broke in 2020. Wouldn’t want to start the new year like that! Happy 2021!
agree – stuff always happens when you least need it
as a professional proof reader – did this for some time at Mount Lebanon News –
found a typo – on the paragraph that reads family’s first every family reunion
ever would have been enough but fingers gave us everY
other than that, great reading as usual