Water, running in the kitchen

In which I describe my first world problem and marvel at how easy we really have it...

Last weekend we came to appreciate how easy our lives are because we have running water in our kitchen.

For over a year we've had a temperamental, sometimes drippy, kitchen faucet. For too long we've had a leaking kitchen faucet - a minor thing that a small buck and occasional tea towel swipe kept in check.

But then it became bad. Super drippy and an under-the-counter leak that needed attention now. But we couldn't deal with it now.

So for three whole days we had a kitchen sink that didn't give us water on demand. We had to bring water from somewhere else to use in the kitchen. Somewhere else like the bathroom, six steps from the kitchen. And we could still us the sinks and let the water drain out. And the dishwasher was fine, so we tried to limit dish usage in those three days to stuff that could go in the dishwasher. I didn't cook or bake much because I didn't have easy access to water to wipe the counters or rinse stuff or wash my hands.

And one evening, while filling the kettle from the tub and dreaming about the new faucet, I realize just how ridiculous I was being. It wasn't that long ago that there was no running water in most kitchens or bathrooms around the world. It wasn't that long ago that there wasn't even a pump. And people survived. People in other countries are still surviving without indoor plumbing (yes, I know there are those who are not...) and there I was looking forward to my new faucet. There are places where the amount of water we had to toss because of the leak might be the day's water for a village....

I have a new faucet now. It doesn't leak. And every time I turn it on, I'm reminded of how lucky I am to have it.