it could have been worse...

... even though what we had was plenty bad. We just had a new hot water heater delivered and installed today. When The Man Who Lives Here left before daylight today, he reported that there was no hot water to be had. Fortunately it was not in my plans to shower, so I did not miss an opportunity.

He called me in the early afternoon, saying I would have to go purchase a wet/dry vacuum to clean up a big wet mess. I told him I could not get home until late in the day, with what he wanted. My plans accidentally changed (one of many accidents that can be reported for this day in my personal history.) When I arrived at home, there was a flood in the storage area where the water heater lives.

The plumbing guy was in the process of connecting the shiny new water heater, after removing the one that created that pond. I immediately started getting wet things up off the floor. Lots of paintings on stretched canvas, framed pictures, memorabilia in cardboard boxes that act like sponges. And immediately fall apart when you attempt to pick them up out of an inch of water.

I will now admit to using entirely too many bad words. Cannot remember when I was more aggravated, frustrated, irritated with lots of stomping and swearing. Unless it might have been just last Monday when I devoted the day to the auntie who has the memory/retention of a gnat. Story for another day.... The good news is I Am Over It, so all that cursing and gnashing teeth was actually a good thing.

I've heard it said that your average water heater is good for about fifteen or twenty years. Which to me is completely baffling: why can't they make them to last, like bathtubs or other things that need to be 'plumbed?' The one that left on the back of the service truck is only half as old as my kids. Us have a very clear memory of that one coming to live with us. On a January day after the daughter got her driver's license and drove into the carport wall, where the first water heater lived just six inches away on the other side of that sheetrock.

The service guy offered some thought provoking words before he left. Meant to put us in a more positive frame of mind. Reminding us that it could have been far worse than what we experienced. For instance, our house did not flood. We don't have the water heater up stairs or in the attic, which would have created a true homeowner nightmare. So, I am really over it, and thankful we have the resources to deal with a crisis of this sort when it occurs.