One day I went to wash out an "unmentionable" in the bathroom sink, and low and behold the stopper wouldn’t work. I pried it out since it wouldn’t come up and looked down the drain...nothing. Where did the little lever go?
So I decided "how hard could this be?" I’d fix it. (My husband, Joseph, went on record saying we could get someone in... but I was determined.) I went to Home Depot and found a wonderful man in plumbing who showed me the part I needed, as well as how it should fit into the other pipe. Got it!
I went home and eventually pulled everything out from under the sink. I put Joseph's master tool kit within reach and got ready to start. BUT WAIT! What is this water here. Hmmmm...looks like a leak. Darn....
Joseph suggested I look at all the pipes because if one is bad the others are probably wearing out as well. At this point I thought, "you have to be kidding?" He wasn't. I took the trap off (the offender it turned out) and the straight pipe going into the wall which looked shabby. I carefully looked at the washers so I knew what went where. The pipe going into the sink seemed ok. Back to Home Depot with my bag of old parts.
About this time I wondered, "What was I thinking?" This is way more then I bargained for. OK...I told myself, this didn't involve soldering. Surely I could do this.
Again the man in plumbing was helpful. I found a kit that had most of what I needed and located the other odd pieces required. Plumber man suggested I tape the threads to ensure a tight fit so I splurged on a $.99 roll of plumbers tape.
Back home, Joseph was encouraging but left me to it. With some trepidation I started. Once I got into it, I found I was enjoying figuring it all out. Some time later, after a few re-dos, I finished. And, I have to say I was quite full of myself.
Plumbing is Just Like life:
- New ventures always take longer and are more complicated than you think they'll be (like having kids);
- Some place in the middle you panic and want to bail;
- Then somewhere along the line you realize you are actually having fun;
- And finally, you feel good about accomplishing something you didn't know you could do.
- At any point in time, you can decide what you are doing is awful or an adventure. You can focus on fear or excitement. You can persist or give up. How we live life is a a lot like plumbing.
