hot town, summer in the city

okay folks, i'm back in the twenty-first century. early on monday, my hot-water heater went crazy and refused to ignite. it kept trying to come on, but never heated the water above 58*. naturally, in true meagan fashion, i do not realize this until it is too late on monday and i now am forced to wait until tuesday. so i alert my neighbors that i may shower at their house, boil enough water to thaw some bottles for tegan, hand wash some dishes and go bed. grumpy. tuesday morning, i awake to -voila- still no hot water. i debate whether or not this constitutes an emergency according to my builders code and if i should call the emergency line, or wait until the office opens at 9am. at 7:30, i realize that the service men are already working, and even though i am out of warranty and all that i really need is the contact information for the hot water heater company, that this is not really an emergency. i think back to that article about americans being so spoiled and realize that indeed, i am overreacting. so i decide to wait until 9:00. at 8:00, i decide that this is an emergency because if i do not get in-touch with the company soon, i may be out of hot-water for days. tegan is screaming and has consumed every single ounce of room-temperature milk, and i can't boil the water fast enough to thaw a new bag for the poor kid. so i call the emergency line, and fortunately my buddy dave "curly" answers the phone. due to the history of work on my house, they know me simply as "meagan" and not "subdivision and lot number please" so i tell dave curly what the problem is, and that i apologize that it's not a true emergency, but that i need to call the company when they open. he says that it is an emergency because i have the babies. i agree, and smile a wicked smile, as he gives me their number. so then my buddy big boss dave gets on the phone and laughs at me for a while that i can't shower and that i must stink. i tell him that i can't thaw bottles or shave my legs. he laughs even harder, but then faithfully takes care of me. my wicked smile grows.

so in true pioneer spirit, after two lukewarm baths for myself and kylinn consisting of seven trips of carrying stockpots of boiling water up and down the stairs, freezing showers for adam, tegan's bath in the kitchen sink, boiling more water to hand wash the dishes. two loads of laundry and dishes in the dishwasher washed in 58*water, two evenings of boiling water to sterilize bottles and thaw enough milk for tegan, one frigid hair washing adventure in the sink, microwaving enough water to brush & floss my teeth twice daily (i have sensitive teeth) one canceled appointment and a skipped library story time, i am happy to report that after 31 hours, i have hot water again. so what did i do this morning? took a long hot shower. and enjoyed every single second of it. and i just can't stop smiling.

i may regret saying this later, but for now, hot water is better than diamonds.