Raising teens again!

I don’t think about water much, but after one of our hot water heaters started leaking last week I’ve had lots of “Interactions” with it! (Think about mopping up every few hours even after the restoration company extracted it from carpets, because there is a pinhole leak in a pipe and new heaters won’t be installed till next week.) Which reminded me of how much water teens actually use!

I’ve mentioned long showers and baths ( And now with only one working they have adjusted just fine to taking shorter ones) but now I’m reflecting on their other uses of water. For instance; every day, hubby & I are in “danger” of getting wet socks due to teens who fill their water bottles at the fridge dispenser, and ALWAYS accidentally drop ice cubes on the tile floor and conveniently forget about it. Lol! But you know what? In a year or two when they move out, I’ll actually be a bit sad that there’s no water on the floor right?

And of course both girls have lost at least a few very nice insulated water bottles at school or work or wherever, but they can be replaced. Did you know that the more expensive ones keep water cold for a day or more? Of course we live in Alaska, so in winter that’s especially easy!

Water is so important for us all every day isn’t it? And we forget just how precious it is. Just last night at a small dinner party with friends, ( Who we hadn’t seen in 3 years due to you know what.) one man reminded us about the time when a governor wanted to build a water pipeline from AK to help California with their drought. Well, of course that couldn’t happen & now with so much rain they sure don’t need our water!

Did you know that we are the only city ( or at least we were for awhile) that has an indoor water park? The girls like to take their little sisters there a few times a year. It’s a happy place, but noisy. I’ve gone down all the slides & done the River walk. That’s great exercise, especially when you walk against the current!
I’m reminded of the time many years ago when I was about 35, I climbed up stairs to a huge water slide at a water park in Missouri, only to discover that I was surrounded by little boys! Well, I HAD to go down, and when I emerged at the bottom in a pool, a man lying on a lawn chair was laughing. I love this memory.

Our second daughter was a great sport when she was a teen, driving our little blue Mazda that we called the Smurf. It had lots of duct tape on since it had been through a few teens, and water squirted up through the floor boards when she went through a puddle. The radiator leaked, so she kept a gallon jug of water to fill it on a regular basis, but she was a trooper, like the time she was stalled in line at the airport parking garage and quickly popped the hood. Did I mention that it was dark & pouring rain?

Well, I need to get down to the basement again to soak up some water! But I realize how blessed I am to have a wonderful home, lots of water to drink and shower in, do dishes, clean the house and run the washing machine with all those huge soaking wet towels, ( You remember the ones that the teens keep leaving on their floors.) so I’m not complaining, & it’s a great workout running up and down those stairs!