Last week I mentioned that sometimes things take a lot longer here and it would be great to know that people are praying for us in our daily activities because sometimes those are the things that take up so much of our days. I guess God decided I needed more patience in this area, so for the last 3 days we have not consistently had water. By “consistently,” I am referring to having it for 5 minutes and then losing it for 5 hours. Over the last 72 hours, I’ve been seen running across the room when I hear the gurgling of the pipes to fill up my pitcher and then hustling off to the bathroom to flush the toilet, washing the dishes that have accumulating from our nervous eating (why does no water make you hungrier and thirstier than normal?) and washing my hands incessantly, taking out my contacts, washing the salad or whatever else needs to be done right now, just in case this burst of utilities is not going to last. It’s like a life-sized game of Red Light/Green Light and when the light is green, you better make a run for it!
I have my nifty bottle of Germ-X hand sanitizer on the sink counter where the soap used to sit. I was prepared to use the bottle on long bus trips before eating my cheese sandwich, but to have to use it in my own house wasn’t what I had in mind.
I could tell Joel was looking at this as a welcome adventure when he grabbed our (empty) water backup supply bottles and said, “Think Bold Spirit, Krista!” referring to his days as a crew member of a sailing vessel to Mexico. That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking, but yes, we can make this into an adventure, I suppose.
All of these utilities perils have truly had their benefits: having to burn our trash has made us more conscientious recyclers (what we can recycle, we don’t have to try to dispose of ourselves!); high electricity prices reminds us to conserve where we were previously flippant; and water shortages make us thankful shower-ers. Honestly, I am being transformed into a more grateful recipient of the simpler amenities of life.
Having learned my lesson, the water finally came back on late this morning, and I was truly thankful.
And then the electricity went off.