I cannot speak for you, but there are many things wrapped in the package called everyday life which I take for granted.

Among those things I assume will be there without interruption are:

• Electricity to heat our home and to power our stuff.
• Food on our table.
• Gasoline for our cars.
• Reliable internet service.
• A steady income or alternative income source on which to rely.
• Ample water service with which to drink, cook, do the laundry, and to flush the toilet.

When the unexpected occurs and those things are not readily available at my beckon call, there can be a tendency to drift toward complaining compounding the original problem.

Fortunately, that has not been the case this time around while dealing with the issue at hand.

Although I have previously mentioned the current season of seeking employment, it is the last item on the list which has risen to the top of the charts.

It has been Numero Uno on the hit parade for nearly the past month.

As of this writing, it has been twenty nine days…and counting!

Twenty nine long and sometimes trying days positioned smack dab in the middle of the holiday season….and beyond.

Twenty nine days where there has been little or no water service to our home and the homes in our development.

Thankfully we experienced a short reprieve over the past weekend, but the ongoing issues continue.

The water was off again today!

We are connected to a public well and sewage system which serves approximately twenty-seven homes in our sub-division in addition to approximately sixty-plus homes in the mobile home park directly across the main road from our development.

Below are a few excerpts of emails we have received updating us on the problem:

• “Today we were able to get water and pressure to some of the homes. If you have water tonight, then you should keep having water from this point on.  I must remind you that everyone is still on a “boil water advisory” and that will continue until further notice!
• “We ask that everyone conserve water where possible and we will keep you posted with updates if there are any changes to be aware of.”
• “We still are searching for water leaks…we are still losing massive amounts of water and are unable to maintain system pressure.”

Images of Charles and Caroline Ingalls of Little House on the Prairie fame have danced like visions of sugar plums in our heads.

Imaginary conversations have played out in my mind.

“Charles, can you fetch some water?”

“Yes, Caroline after I stoke the fire.”

“You better take your coat, dear, it sure is cold out there in the outhouse!”

We have resided in our neighborhood for nearly twenty six years.

On the bright side, our water and sewage bill has been a combined $25 per month since day one!

I know some of you reading this are surely thinking Big Bargain and rightfully so as you live in a metered water world.

Don’t worry, meters are about to arrive on our planet soon!

The water authority, and I use the term loosely, has been mired in a state of family squabble, bankruptcy, receivership, and your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine as to the identity of the owners for many years.

That is, until now.

More on that below.

When the outside temperature changes from warm to cold in the late fall and reverses track in the spring from cold to warm, the ground shifts causing pipes to break and emergency only repairs to be made.

If there is one thing we have learned to count on, like a seasonal indicator, it’s a pipe breaking somewhere in the system and the water subsequently being turned off.

Many years ago we hit the Holiday Season Trifecta – a sink full of dirty dishes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s with no water to wash them!

On a good day, we are blessed with low pressure.

In the past month we have:

• Taken many sponge baths, perfecting our system of heating water from outside sources on the stove and fully bathing in less than 4 gallons of water each.
• This has given new meaning to the phrase, scrub-a-dub-dub!
• We have visited the laundromat on several occasions to wash our clothes.
• We have shoveled and melted snow (clearly an outside source!) for useable H2O.
• We have driven to a friend’s home to take a shower (what a treat!) and to collect water in our gallon jugs.
• Used paper plates.
• We have made the Tidy-bowl man flow downstream as we have dumped the contents of our blue water flusher into the proverbial throne!
• You could have heard me say, “Excuse me while I go to the potty to then wash my hands from the make-shift faucet, a gallon jug!”
• Santa even passed us by as he could not depend on us for a pit stop!

I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

About a week before Christmas (9 days into the saga), as we sat down to eat there was a knock on our door.

“Hi, I’m Ray, the new owner of the mobile home park. We bought the property across the street and we were assured any existing water problems were fixed. Obviously they are not. My family and I intend to address each and every issue and to keep communications flowing to you. We are working on the problems and we intend to get them resolved”.

At last, a real flesh and blood person to talk to about the issues.

Ray has honored his word.

Emails have been sent on a frequent basis updating us to the latest developments and the plan of action as noted above.

A water tanker is conveniently parked outside our door from which to obtain clean drinking water.

Discussions have ensued to potentially connect us to the local public water supply, getting Ray and his family out of the water and sewage business so they can concentrate on the much needed improvements to the mobile home park.

Time will ultimately prove this out.

In the meantime, the water jug, the boiling pot, and the blue flusher have become our friends.

The verdict is still out on when the end of the water saga (or lack thereof) will finally arrive.

In the interim, I have chosen to chew on this morsel to keep the sanity levels intact and the nerves down.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Do everything without complaining and grumbling, so that no one can criticize you.” Philippians 2: 13-15 (NLT)

I don’t claim to have perfected the no complaining or grumbling part, but is has helped me immensely when I have avoided doing so.

I’ve attempted to think of other things to get my mind off the inconveniences posed by our own version of life without water.

Some of the thoughts which have helped me are:

• People in third world countries experience this and worse on a daily basis.
• The water tanker is parked right in front of my house and I don’t have to go far to collect clean water to use.
• Ray and crew are actually working on the issues, diligently I might add.
• It’s not too bad taking a makeshift shower with water heated on the stove. We have perfected it like an art form.
• Thank God for the blue flusher buckets so I can, you guessed it, FLUSH and so I don’t have to deal with nasty!

I have no clue what you may be dealing with or what inconveniences might have landed on your runway.

I am suggesting if they are getting under your skin, changing your focus to think of something outside of yourself or for which you can be grateful will help you too keep your sanity levels near normal.

Can you name a situation(s) where you too were challenged and conquered the temptation to grumble or complain?