Thursday, March 05, 2009

The gift of water ...

Over at Following Frodo, my friend (and colleague) Gord has been musing on his recent experience with a broken water main, and the many challenges such a happening offers to a family with three little children, and a Church ... click here to visit Gord's Blog.

As I've followed Gord's postings I thought of a man who shared with me his journey from a small rural home with only cold running water in one room ... for almost 60 years he and his wife heated water for baths, laundry, washing and the dishes on thier stove, and labouriously moved it where it needed to be ... then one day after his wife passed on, he moved into an apartment with hot and cold running water in the kitchen AND the BATHROOM AND in the laundry room.

He was thrilled.

When I met him weeks later he told me that the first week in the apartment he had a bath AND a shower EVERY DAY. He got up in the middle of the night and turned the tap to run the water just to make sure it wasn't a dream ... and he enjoyed the sensation of being able to get hot water "any darned time I want it" without all the work of heating it on the stove and hauling it where it was needed ...

He helped me appreciate what a gift indoor plumbing really is.
Reading Gord's postings of late help to underscore this too.

Glad to hear Gord's water is back on ... hope it keeps flowing (inside - under controlled conditions, not free flowing outside !!)

No comments: