Troubleshooting in the basement revealed that there was power going to the well pump. Unfortunately, this meant the problem was with the well pump itself, 400 feet in the ground. It's not something we can fix, and since it was 9:00 at night, there was no one to call until the morning.
We've lived in the rural countryside for our 25 years of marriage. For the first 10 years or so, losing power (and thus, water) was something that happened on a fairly regular basis. Often we'd be among the last to get power back. You know when you hear on the news, "Appalachian Power says 200 customers are still without power"? Well, that would always be us. Since we camped fairly regularly, we'd break out the camping stove and the grill, fill some coolers with ice, buy water, and make do. Twice, we went without power for 7 days.
So, losing only water, while an inconvenience, does not seem so bad. My daughter and I went to Kroger and bought a gallon of water for each bathroom and 2 gallons for the kitchen. We bought a case of bottled water as well.
That night and for most of the next day, we carefully rationed out those gallons of water every time we washed our hands or brushed our teeth. We'd pour out just enough of the water to get our hands or toothbrush wet, scrub, and then rinse with only what we needed. My son put a little water in the sink basin for shaving. In case you're wondering about flushing, we have a hot tub. We got a big bucket and scooped water out every time a toilet - um - *needed* flushing. We took our showers at the gym a mile up the road.
Fortunately for us, the plumber came out in the mid-afternoon. He installed a new well pump, and by 4 PM, we had running water again. All in all, we were only without running water about 19 hours, and for 7-8 of those hours, we were asleep. So I'd say it amounted to about 12 hours of inconvenience.
Inconvenience can be an opportunity for reflection. As I carefully used those gallons of water, I realized how much I take clean, running water for granted, and how much I use on a daily basis. You don't realize how little water you really need until you don't have it.
We can all give examples of times we've had to do without one thing or another. This fall, I'll be undergoing some changes in my professional life that will leave me with a lot less TIME. Because of this, I am now keenly aware of just how much free time I currently have. This is time that I use to run errands for my family, cook, clean, practice piano, and exercise.
I suppose a person doesn't really *need* all the free time I currently enjoy. It's nice to have, but I won't have this luxury anymore. I'll have to make do with my new schedule and prioritize. I got to thinking: How much time do I really need to do certain things? I will most likely have 2 hours of free time a day for piano and exercise, and that really should be enough.
We really don't need *that* much time to do something good for ourselves every day. I think sometimes the biggest challenge is keeping our minds on the goals we have for our mind, body, and spirit.
Just like being without water for a day reminded me to re-evaluate how I use that resource, let us all take a step back from time to time and evaluate how we use our precious time.
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