It’s officially spring, and I couldn’t be happier about it. This past week was a doozy—a difficult end to a difficult winter.
The Thursday before last, the hot water heater in my rented home experienced a critical failure. I came downstairs at 3am to find a stream meandering it’s way through the laundry room. I won’t get too into the details here, but no hot water tank meant that we had no hot water or heat. The last blast of winter in these parts happened to coincide with our plumbing dilemma. It sucked.
The next 7 days were filled with as many visits from technicians as it became clear that not only was the hot water tank busted, but its exhaust system was dangerously inoperative. I’m buggy about using natural gas at the best of times, but finding out that the system in our home had been dumping exhaust into our walls for the past two years was brutal.
The system is now fixed and (aside from needing to mend the insulation and drywall in the garage) the excitement is pretty well over. Anyone who’s had a landlord during a home-related crisis knows that the road ahead is not a smooth one, but at least it’s a road with a reduced risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I’m doing my best to quell my anxiety in the aftermath and perform self-care. Today, the weather is decent enough to have a window open. This weekend past, I built a worm bin for composting kitchen scraps. I got some soil on my hands and the smell of humus in my nose at a garden show. I deep-cleaned the parts of the house I do have control over. And I’ve been busy writing: new scenes for my novel ‘Steep’, letters to penpals, journal entries, and now here on this blog.
Sometimes staying busy is the next best thing to happiness—and it’s easier to stay busy in the spring—so here’s to the vernal equinox and the warmer days ahead.
Sydney More 