Fixing a watery leak

Dedicated to everyone facing water and electricity shortages, freezing temperatures and hardship in the Texas catastrophe. Water being key to sustaining life, your struggles are unimaginable. Sending you love.

In my last article I shared my 2021 Journey shenanigans. I promised to divulge my husband’s escapades in the “journey” field.

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy …..

My husband is a man of many talents, most of them hidden or used minimally. In true coach fashion, I’ve suggested he could use some of said talents by taking up a new hobby or learning something new. He rarely takes my advice, usually swatting it away like flies in the heat of summer. Or by nasty looks the likes of which one would glimpse when watching lions attacking their prey. But this time he did take my advice. In a way I hadn’t intended it to be taken. Already quite a handyman, he decided to take it a step further i.e. “to grow”.

I discovered with great dismay, water seeping through one of our kitchen cabinets. “Eeek! A leak!”, I shrieked in horror. My husband barged in, and in his ever-so-considerate way demanded, “What did you do?” After several futile attempts at locating the source, he declared that he was going to investigate and fix it himself, due to Covid considerations.

I looked at him aghast. “Surely you’re not going to break the drywall, ceiling and backsplash yourself? You’re not qualified! Just call a professional. What if it’s a huge problem that will need insurance coverage?” To no avail. Our home-living son watched in silent cynicism as the debate rose to a crescendo. Rather intelligent of him, I thought.

My manly man proceeded to turn off the water main, leaving us without water for a day. He removed the cabinet and voila! located the offending leak, coming from a water pipe hidden within a bulkhead. “Bingo!”, he proclaimed, “I’ll glue it up”. It seemed to have worked. Cabinet was replaced, water back on, life went back to normal. “Simple! A $10 job – just some glue and screws”, he said.

Two days later, the leak reappeared with a vengeance, as if to say “Ahem, I’m here to remind you of the importance of water”. Armed with various “I-told-you-so” aphorisms, I hunted down the world’s latest handyman, aka husband. Again, I was confronted with, “What did you do this time?”. Off he went, this time finding the pipe cracked, hence the leak. Another day without water.

An elbow joint was produced out of nowhere (my husband is a bit of a hoarder), and the leak fixed…. again. “See? I’m getting better already. In total, a $50 job”, he announced gleefully.

Thankfully (and lucky for him), this time it worked. My clever son retreated, silently.

My question is: What if there was a giant crevasse awaiting him instead of a small leaky pipe joint? What if it had turned out to be a $50,000 job?

Predictably, he turned it all around, saying triumphantly, “You’re the one who suggested I take up a new hobby”. Yes, but I didn’t mean household repairs!!!!! Sigh.

Nonetheless, the moral of the story: Grow through life.

_If you enjoyed reading, send your comments to: bernadette@gogettercoaching.com _