The Water Heater Ruptured, but I Still Wrote Today

I had a wonderful topic picked out for this week. All planned out. I'm taking a great class in the afternoon. Learned so much. My brain danced with happy thoughts.

A cup of coffee with a jack o lantern on a canvas bag.
Photo by Valeriia Miller: https://www.pexels.com/photo/glass-of-cafe-latte-3146167/

My guy comes up halfway through my class and asks me to turn around and look at him. This is unusual. He knows when I am working, something better be on fire or he’s bleeding. I turned off my camera to my class and turned around.

Water soaked every inch of him. He stood dripping all over the carpet. I stared. What was he trying to tell me? We don’t have a pool or a pond or a lake. What the hell did he fall into?

Then he says, “Our water heater just exploded.”

I’m pretty sure all he saw was my blank stare. While I know water goes into the water heater, is then heated, and it has a pilot light, I had no real clue how one worked or that it could rupture.

He told the tale of the epic battle while I continued to catch flies with my open mouth. My guy had fought the water until he could get to the cutoff switch. My next thought was, “What do we do now?”

I followed him downstairs. My foot hit the floor, and I stepped down into the water. That is such a crappy feeling. Wet socks suck. By now, the water was everywhere.

Our dining room table had been drowned in water before he got to the shut-off valve. We had Halloween decorations all over it. Each needed to be taken down and dried.

The rugs need to hang outside. One may be a loss. A good excuse to hit Target soon.

Tall trees with yellow, orange , red and green leaves with fog/clouds on a hill.
Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger: https://www.pexels.com/photo/pathway-along-the-pine-trees-2310641/

I tell my domestic woes to point something out. I’ve still written this article. I went back and finished the class. I’ve worked on prep for Nano. I started rereading a book on “high concept.”

Business still happened because that’s what you do. I’ve made a verbal contract to myself that I’ll put out an article every Wednesday. Even though today stank, I still sat down to get some thoughts on paper.

No matter what’s happening, do it anyway.

I didn’t have a death, or a child with a serious illness, or an aging parent who needs support. You need to be flexible. Reasonable. Sometimes life is more important.

But the water heater was a timed event. Once the water was soaked up, we have to wait until tomorrow to get a new water heater. Nothing else to do tonight. Which means I could be flexible with myself and get the heck on with it.

We each have our line in the sand. With my writing or art, consistency is key. When I work for a while, which is practice, I get better at whatever I’m doing.

Where is your line in the sand? I think it’s important that you know what that is before water hits you in the face. Happy Writing.