Water

Recently we were without water for four days…or more accurately, we were without water pressure to fill our big tank that sits up on the roof. Fortunately, we still have a tank just outside of the bathroom so we weren’t completely out of water. But it was a good reminder of the things that we take for granted.

I have a beautiful kitchen where Clay plumbed in the water. As long as there is water in the top tank, I have water to wash dishes…or to wash my hands while cooking. (I never realized just how often I wash my hands while cooking until I had to go to a different room to wash.) I also use that water to fill our water filter for clean drinking water.

 The top tank is also where the water comes from to fill our washing machine. With six in our family (plus one adopted Rosa), we produce a lot of laundry. On the fourth day, (and not knowing how much longer we’d be without water pressure) I decided it was time to wash clothes by hand, using the water in the bottom tank. Luckily, I had lots of help!

Ellie, washing clothes

 

Mathew and Levi, "helping" hang the clothes!

 And then there is the blessing of hot showers…the top tank allows us that treat. Without it, we have a cold shower or a bucket bath. Depending on the time of day, a cold shower or cold bucket bath is actually kind of nice. Our temperatures are in the 80s inside and outside of our house.  And interestingly, our kids usually prefer a bucket bath to a shower. (Bathtubs are VERY rare in Mexico, and the kids miss taking baths.)

 
It’s interesting to me that during rainy season we didn’t have enough water pressure to fill our tank. But it has caused us to reconsider how we use our water. Obviously we have been cautious by American standards, where clean water is plentiful. Here we live in a rain forest and still don’t always have water, let alone clean water that we can drink. (That’s a whole other rant on water pollution, but I’ll not go there!) There are days when we can’t even fill our lower tank because there simply is no water.

Today I am thankful that I can breathe a sigh of relief. I can wash clothes in my washing machine. I can fill my water filter from the sink. I can wash dishes in the sink without hauling water from the back room. I can take a hot shower. In essence, I am more comfortable today.

But I am reminded that the people around us don’t even have these same “luxuries” of a hot shower, or a kitchen sink. And they probably wouldn’t even know what to do with a washing machine! (And they also probably wouldn’t trust a machine to get their clothes clean anyway.)