My Cup Runneth Over With Warm Water

After Brian and I moved back to Cache Valley, we settled in a little farmhouse for three years. It was an older home: red brick, front porch with a wooden screen door, big yard adorned by a white fence, three bedrooms, two baths, and no warm water. It wasn't during the full duration there that we went without warm water. We only lived that way for about eight months. At first, it was annoying. Then it became normal. If we didn't have the time to shower at my sister's house, we'd spit bath, boil water on the stove to fill the tub, or just buck up and have a cold shower. The kids decided early on that a shower was not their favored form of cleaning. Brooks claims that on one occasion I stood outside the shower while he was crying inside and said, "At least you don't live in China. This is how some parents punish their children!" I can neither confirm or deny that statement. But based on the whining that was triggered by bath time, I agreed that none of us had the patience for icy showers. We switched to sponge baths and washing hair under the faucet of the tub instead. The running water wasn't cold. It was ice cold. My hands were instantly bright red and numb as I scrubbed their little heads. I would count, "One, two, three, go!" and then one at a time, push their heads under the running water as they knelt by the tub side. Quickly I would wet their hair and pull their head back to give them a break. They would gasp from the shock to their senses. I then massaged shampoo into their hair, gave them a "One, two, three, go!" and, once again, push them firmly under the cold water to rinse. Paige was on the verge of tears one night. "It's so cold," she said. "My head is numb. It hurts!" "Well, at least you're not a pioneer," I replied. "They had to wash in icy rivers, with real ice floating in the water! This is much better than that. Now you know what it's like to be a pioneer." "I don't want to be a pioneer!" she screamed. Before we moved into our current house, I walked to the kitchen sink while our realtor watched on. I pulled the handle to the faucet and waited patiently. As soon as warm water touched my hand, I was sold. And since that day, I have literally been thankful every single day for running warm water. As, Grandma Ruby says, "My cup runneth over, so I'm drinking from my saucer." I am thankful that my saucer is full of warm water.