Appreciating what you've got

My youngest came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and said "Mom-what happened to the water?" It's been a while, but my husband and I recognized the symptoms-the well pump had gone out.

Now, if you live in the city you may never have had this experience, but everyone who lives out in the country like we do will understand. Our water comes up from our well, and the entire system needs to be working right for us to get any at all. There's a pump, a motor, the well itself, a tank, and the electricity to run the whole thing. Whenever one piece of the equation goes awry, we have no water. Turn on the tap and you get absolutely nothing.

And of course, the pump went out on Friday night. Even our well repairman couldn't work on it over the weekend. Thank goodness for understanding neighbors-we showered at one friend's house and filled buckets and jugs at another. Gary, one of our best friends, offered to drive water buckets between our house and his in the pick up truck so we didn't risk sloshing water all over our van's carpet. THANK YOU GARY!!

We limped our way through the weekend, drinking bottled water, using paper plates and flushing the toilets with buckets. We even drained the basement dehumidifier into a toilet-it gave us an extra few flushes!

Still and all, it was wonderful to see Jim, our well repairman, at the door first thing Monday morning. The pump actually wasn't bad; just the switch wasn't working right. It was a quick fix and the $138 bill was far less than we were afraid it might be.

So yeah, we appreciate running water a bit more fully right now, but most of all, we appreciate good friends who are there for us in times of trouble (big or small). We'll be there to return the favor when their wells go out, or something else is needed. That's what friends are for, and that's what we all need to appreciate each and every day.

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Visit my brand-new baby blog, The Learning Nook! Find it at http://sandyfleming.info. It's just getting started, but you'll find fun information about learning and education, and some great ideas for homeschoolers, parents and teachers.