All Wet

Toby at rest (he's a very relaxed animal)

                Some days it rains…a couple of weeks ago it poured…literally!  Toby, our youngest cat (I’ll tell you his story another time), wanted to play a game he hasn’t played all summer, but it was his favorite last spring.  It’s called the “go all the way upstairs and throw my yellow shower scrubbie into the bathtub for me to fetch” game.  (Toby has many of the same qualities as a golden retriever.) 

                There are two things you need to know about our upstairs bathroom.  First, it’s part of my daughter’s domain so I avoid it like the plague.  Second, when you live in a 130-year-old house with almost non-existent closets, things like the unused upstairs shower/tub make perfect storage areas for things like all the new luggage I bought this summer filled with travel toiletries, travel puzzle books, blankets, pillows, etc.

                Toby’s decision to renew last spring’s game was very timely (cats CAN be helpful sometimes).  As I was about to toss the scrubbie, I heard a rapid drip and looked into the tub only to discover that along with the drip, the drain was closed and the tub was on the brink of overflowing.  Suitcases are not, apparently, floodproof.  Dealing with drowned luggage is a bummer of a project for a day off, but I was grateful to have a clear calendar to take care of it, and to have discovered the mess while everything was still salvageable.  (If anyone is wondering how the drip and plugged tub came about—let’s just say it has to do with cats stepping on the faucet handle and playing in the suitcases until they toppled over the drain—that’s our best guess but none of them have ‘fessed up to it.)

                That was the rain, here comes the pours.  Ironically, as I was washing what items I could in the basement washing machine, the hose burst and flooded the laundry room with 2” of water.   Did I mention yet that my husband had his knee scoped that week and was just starting to put weight on it?  There is something empowering about having to tackle a mess alone, but regardless, I‘d rather share the experience with my spouse.  Once again I was grateful for a clear schedule, because clean-up seemed to be the on-going theme for the day.  I am also so thankful it was clean water and not sewage or muddy floodwater.  I would have been ecstatic if we had a drain in the basement floor so I didn’t have to haul multiple buckets of water up the stairs, but it worked out fine and I got to cross “exercise” of the to-do list for the day.

                On my final trip up the basement stairs, I came across the day’s first insurmountable obstruction—one of the cats was sitting on a stair step (this is a daily occurrence).  For some reason (I suspect it’s a power play) cats on stair steps do not move when they see you coming.  This often ends in an offended, stepped-on animal or a cursing, tripped-up human.  If I’m carrying a laundry basket in front of me so I can’t see the cat, both outcomes happen.  What does one do when faced with life’s immovable road blocks?  Our stubborn cats won’t surrender their step, acquaintances won’t surrender an offensive opinion, the government or  workplace won’t surrender a policy in light of common sense—life is filled with examples.  Sometimes we just have to step around—don’t fight a hopeless battle head on—live and let live for the moment.  Your opponent will see what you do and since you didn’t step on them (or their viewpoint), they may be a little more open to your side of things.