He’d only been gone a few hours, and the seeds of panic were already starting to creep in. I usually consider myself an independent, intelligent woman, able to handle almost anything but that morning my confidence was being shaken and I didn’t like it one bit.
What sent me into a tizzy? The feeling that I couldn’t handle stuff all on my own. What kind of stuff? Let’s just say that “plumber” and “maintenance worker” don’t hold a prominent place on my resume.
It began on Thursday morning. I had dropped hubby off at the airport for an early morning flight to his company’s annual business retreat. All-day meetings followed by an important round of golf were on the agenda. My day was shaping up to be a busy one too. Our daughter-in-law was arriving in the early afternoon for a “girls weekend.” The intervening hours between airport runs should have given me plenty of time to make sure the guest room was “Martha Stewart perfect.” Every conceivable “nosh” was on hand and the wine fridge was stocked with enough Pinot Grigio should there be a surprise snowstorm. Yup, we were good to go.
The first hint of trouble came as I was doing the breakfast dishes. The drain in the sink started to back up and water was rising faster than I could bail it out. “Just breathe,” I told myself, “Something is probably stuck in the disposal.” Clicking on the switch, I heard unfamiliar sounds. The normal “grind, whirr and hum” were replaced by “crunch, slurp, gurgle.” utterances. I quickly turned the control to “off” and watched with horror as water shot out of the drain like a geyser, then drained and rose again.
“Oh, this is not good” I muttered out loud and made a mental note to call the plumber as soon as our houseguest departed. I was sure this issue could be ignored for a few days if we didn’t use the disposal. Whew, that problem was averted, at least temporarily.
But not so fast! There was more. A few minutes later, getting into the shower, I felt a stream of cold water instead of the pleasantly warm temperature I expected. “Good grief!” There was no hot water. Perhaps I had used it all up trying to clear the drain. Maybe it was just taking a little longer for the hot water to arrive at the master bath from the water heater on the other side of the house.
I was dropping quickly into full-blown “OMG!” territory. Not only did I have a backed-up kitchen sink, I had no hot water, and a houseguest arriving in less than two hours. I knew I had to do something and quickly. Clutching my robe, I went into the little closet where the furnace and water heater reside. Ominous lights were flashing on the control panel. I bravely resisted the urge to totally panic. It occurred to me that I had no idea what I was doing; hubby usually handled emergencies such as this.
After a few minutes of contemplation, I thought “I know, I’ll just turn it off and on again.” Seemed logical but any attempt to get the unit to shut off by pushing the on/off button was not working. Alarm was starting to set in. A frantic call to our usually reliable plumber went directly to voicemail; a text to him yielded an auto-response noting he was out of town for the next two weeks.
What to do, what to do? Frustrated, I saw the light of an idea - I would do what any resourceful woman who was looking for help solving a problem would do. I asked Google. Out came my computer and doing a search quickly found instructions on how to clear a clogged drain and disposal. A few minutes later, having located and used the handy-dandy plunger tool, the formerly clogged and pesky drain ran clear, and the unit whirred and hummed once again.
Spurred on by this small victory, I moved on to the hot water heater. The internet instructions were “duh” simple: unplug the unit, wait 30 seconds, and plug it back in. I did so and voila, it worked! A few minutes later and my shower was once again steaming.
I had done it. I had faced the travails of household plumbing and had come away victorious. My girls’ weekend was saved! I beamed with pride; I’d resolved the domestic maintenance issues all on my own. Today, Google was there for me. Tomorrow? Perhaps the need for internet searches will be replaced by Rosie the Robot, who will happily keep all aspects of my household humming. Until then, Google can help save the world for women. Just a thought.
© 2024 Annie Sokoloff
Fantastic and funny!