Will Heaven Have Clogged Sinks?

Every ten years or so, homeowners find that the house needs major maintenance. Appliances wear out, wiring ages, gutters rust, etc. Our house is no exception to the 10-year rule. Last week our kitchen sink developed a clog under the drain. When I’d turn on the garbage disposal, that side of the sink would dispose of the garbage—into the other sink! When the dishwasher ran, it would discharge its water into both sides of the sink. We’ve had this problem before, and it meant that the drain pipes needed a good cleaning, which my Ever Patient Husband cleaned while I worked late. I came home to functioning drains.

Then my washer, which our son says is certainly old enough to drive and maybe old enough to vote, decided to throw an error code when it got down to the spin cycle. Sometimes I could reset it by hitting pause and then resuming; other times it wouldn’t reset until I gave up and just washed the whole load again. Aside from the pleasure of having very clean clothes, it took all evening to get just one load through the washer; I should be able to do a week’s worth of laundry in that time. So my Very Handy Husband consulted an online repair shop (Google and YouTube) and decided there was a loose connection in the wiring. He spent Friday evening with wires. He cleaned connections and used a rubber band to hold things in place. At any rate, the washer seems to work just fine now (at least until the rubber band dies), but it may be my threat of going to Slyman Brothers for a new washer that has put the Fear of the Junkyard into it.

At the same time, after weeks of nursing our kitchen faucet, which seemed to be as stingy with water as Jack Benny was with cash, I decided that enough is enough and went to Home Depot (by myself) and bought a new one. While I was showering this morning, the husband busied himself installing the replacement faucet (I bought one that fit, praise be to God). Then we turned on the water. Horrors! The problem was not in the faucet. It was in the plumbing. Somewhere in the bowels of the piping, there was a Clog. Now, mind you, my husband is not a small man, and the undersink cabinet has a very small door. He has to turn sideways and wedge himself into the cabinet to work. (He’s using the dog’s pillow and rug to cushion himself, so we have an unhappy dog, too.) Both sink valves were clogged. Husband performed a double bypass plumbing operation, and water is flowing freely again.

The Very Handy Husband has declared that he is going to have a nice dinner out tonight. I hope he lets me go with him.

These are ordinary problems in an ordinary life, but I do hope Heaven has water that always runs and appliances that last forever. Until Heaven, I have my husband.