Water water everywhere

It poured rain two nights ago and yesterday morning we woke up and saw the ground gushing water from under the fire hydrant across the street. A water main broke. We called the city and they advised us to fill the bathtub and every available container with water in case they had to shut it off.

It's weird how you take water for granted living in this part of the world. We flush without thinking, we wash our hands, we let the shower run a bit so it's nice and hot when we get in... we are really fortunate. I made hamburgers for dinner and sighed deeply because I had to use cold, stored water to wash the meat off my fingers. How spoiled we are.

They only turned the water off for a couple of hours so no showers were in jeopardy but seeing my bathtub filled to the brim with water and watching Henry learn how to fill the toilet tank to flush it made me pause. There are so many people who have to walk for miles to get dribbles of dirty water. Who have to bathe in rivers or share their bathwater. And not in the fun way.

We are really very lucky and take so much for granted. I feel guilty. I wish this stuff crossed my mind more often. I can be very shallow and self involved (really!?) and that makes me feel guilty too. In fact, I may not even remember this episode in a few weeks. At least I have this blog. And maybe tomorrow I'll jump in the shower without warming the water first in honour of those who would love even a freezing cold shower. If I remember to, that is.

kxx