SIMPLE GIFTS-~WATER
by
by
Juliet Waldron
Today, I was in the kitchen hand-washing mugs and scrubbing pots. Hot water came from the tap and a nice container of blue Dawn (c) sat by the sink. As I washed, I felt slightly put out. Always some darn mess to clear up! If you cook at home, you clean-up at home, and because we are mostly stay-at-home eaters. That's our daily reality.
The water was hot, the sponge was clean. (I've got a thing about laundering sponges every other day so they don't inadvertently become hosts for exactly the bugs you're trying to wash away.) The task was not really unpleasant. I'd already cleared away the grease from a frying pan with a paper towel and put that into the trash.
I've a habit of turning the water off and then turning it back on again as I repeat the cycle of wash and rinse. I reached to close the faucet with one hand, and, with the other, set a clean pot to drain in the rack.
As I did this, I abruptly realized how lucky I am that this clean--potable, actually--water just emerges from the faucet simply because I turn the handle. I can ask that it arrive ready heated to the temperature I desire. If I drink from the cold tap, it won't taste that terrific and probably isn't, long term, that good for my gut, but even without filtering, it's not going to give me cholera or dysentery. I live in one of the places on this planet that provides this luxury, this despite the fact that in my well-to-do town, we're considred pretty much po ' folks.
Thinking over the images I've seen of women and girls trudging hot, dusty miles every day lugging heavy sloshing pots in order to supply the bare minimum need, I thanked my stars that I was washing dishes in a fine stainless steel sink with plenty of hot water issuing from the tap. And although I've been washing up since I was a little kid--in this life, it appears that "doing the dishes" is an unvarying part of my destiny--for the first time, I felt a real change of heart, an attitude adjustment at a deep level.
From now on, I'll give thanks for the good fortune I enjoy, while I--ever so effortlessly--wash those daily dishes.
~Juliet Waldron
http://www.julietwaldron.com
Historical Novels ~
Mozart's Wife ~ 18th C Vienna
Roan Rose ~ Wars of Roses
Genesee ~ American Revolution
Black Magic ~ Paranormal
and many others
