Plumbing, plunging, and practice.

It all started in the shower.

That’s where all good things start.

And “finish.”

*wink wink

In this story though, this is where all the bad things began.

And no, it does not involve a shower partner.

*sad face

So there I was, washing and rinsing, swaying along to my “singing in the shower” playlist when I noticed I was standing in some pretty deep water.

Huh, I thought to myself.

Logically, there was only one answer: hair.

It’s gotta be clogged.

Only thing was that I had just cleaned my drain out a few days ago.

Huh, I thought again.

Finishing up, I stepped out of the shower and observed a rather large puddle pooling out from underneath my toilet.

Thinking it had just leaked from my shower, I threw a towel over it and continued on with my night. It was only when I was going to the bathroom later in the evening that I realized the puddle had grown larger, and when I tried to flush, its contents did not go down.

Well this cannot be good.

So I called my handyman friend to take a look.

Course it worked fine when he came over. Everything drained and flushed smoothly.

At first.

After about five gallons went down though, and after accidentally getting sprayed from the shower not being turned off all the way and getting flicked in the face by fermented drain water trying to pull up a wad of soggy hair, we noticed another flood coming from the toilet.

So there is something wrong and it’s not just me!

Upon further troubleshooting, we concluded that there was a clog somewhere, and to avoid further flooding, I wasn’t to use water until this clog had been removed.

No water… soooo how do I go to the bathroom?

A bucket?

Yes, a bucket.

And that’s exactly what I had to use.

For days. Yes days.

Did I mention that this was on the cusp of an approaching vacation?

Yeah.

Turns out, the “clog” was actually a frozen pipe, which wasn’t the worst thing in the world and could easily be fixed.

So I called in the professionals and they got it done just in time for my garage door to break.

You’re kidding me. You have got to be kidding me.

I leave in TWO DAYS.

So I’m telling one of my friends about the joys of being a homeowner and all the trials and tribulations that come with taking care of a house by yourself, and she asks me, “So what do you think the universe is trying to tell you?”

What IS the universe trying to tell me?

Honestly, I think it’s testing me.

It’s no surprise that the last few months have been challenging for me, emotionally. One could say that I went through somewhat of a dark period.

*literally and figuratively because on average, we get 5 hours of sunlight in the winter, which leaves a whole lot of room for gloom

But dark periods are also opportunities to learn, and therefore grow.

Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but actually you’ve been planted.

Though I had to work through some difficult emotional growth, and finally face my mistakes with forgiveness and self-compassion, I feel grateful for the chance to put all my work on managing emotions into practice.

And where I once would’ve reacted to such calamities and inconveniences with panic and hysteria, I now find myself facing them with a wise thoughtfulness and sense of calm.

It’s still a work in progress of course, as all good things take time.

But I’m looking at these obstacles differently, and though these myriad of events were absolutely dreadful to deal with days before leaving town, I feel I handled them better than before.

Now about that shower….