Reflection: Gratitude For Small Blessings!

Gratitude matters!

Of course, most of us believe we are perfectly capable of expressing our gratitude and we do so generously when something significantly good comes along.

But the key point here is the word "significant". There are lots of little things in life that come along - and many of them pass our way every single day of our lives - and they just pass by unseen and unappreciated.

Consider running water and indoor plumbing! Something I have recently become very grateful for, given that we had a busted water pipe that left us without running water for almost three days. When you don't have running water you really get to appreciate how nice it is to have running water.

I've actually lived with limited access to water before so it wasn't exactly a new experience. And I'm not talking about the time I was homeless!

At my auntie's house when I was a kid we would occasionally have long dry spells in the summer and the well would run dry. So we'd have to pull up buckets and keep them up at the house because there was not enough water to make the pump work. You learn to cope. People have done it for millennia.

Another thing I'm grateful for today is the fact that our busted water pipe turned out to be a pretty simple fix!

The plumber finally made it out here at about 4:30 this afternoon, and it turned out that our problem stemmed from an old bronze fitting that had quite simply cracked due to age, metal fatigue, and the expansion and contraction due to the extreme weather we had recently.

Pete the Plumber had a quick look at it and said it didn't seem like anything in the walls or in the crawl space had gotten damaged as part of the break, and the fountain of water we had into our lower level most likely was just a combination of our very high water pressure and the break being aligned exactly so that a jet of water was forced backwards towards the basement.

Turned out that was exactly what had happened. No leaks inside. It looked far more dramatic than it actually turned out to be.

So, instead of the several thousand dollar expense that we had feared, we ended up being out $236.48.

It's still a chunk of change, but good news for somebody who is largely broke and often living day-to-day.

The whole thing did get me to thinking about the importance of gratitude, and the importance of being grateful for just the seemingly small things we have in our lives. Maybe they are not actually that small.

Earlier on, when I was getting ready to document the progress of the plumbers with the work - since we had originally expected to need to make a claim with our insurance company - I found myself being very grateful for digital photography on my phone. My goodness! How did we ever get by without digital photography?

There's much of modern technology I have very little use for, and the cynic in me views it largely as gadgetry to fulfill people's egos... while not actually make anything in the world particularly better, just more complicated.

Digital photos, however, is one of those things that are extremely useful. In some ways, it's ironic that I actually use my phone more to take pictures, than I use it as a phone or as a computer or for any other purpose. But I'm definitely grateful for that!

Meanwhile, it has warmed up a little bit and the snow has turned to a mixture of snow and rain and I think most of the white stuff will have melted by tomorrow or maybe the day after. Hopefully this once-in-50-years event will not repeat itself anytime soon although the weather these days definitely is a little strange!

Yesterday I wrote about "disruptions" and how we sometimes need to disrupt our own lives. I found it mildly ironic that I had chosen that topic, even as we were disrupted by this broken water pipe. It wasn't deliberate coincidence at all. But the thing I ended up really appreciating is the fact that even a small thing to upset our daily routine - like not having running water - can really turn your entire schedule in life upside down.

I had a lot of things I hoped to get done in the course of the past couple of days and I ended up not really being able to get to many of them even though... how much time do we actually spend using water? Just a few minutes a day and yet this ended up seriously disrupting my days.

Sometimes life is just weird.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!

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Created at 2024-01-18 00:47 PST
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