After spending more than two weeks without hot water, I have been reflecting on all the conveniences we take for granted. Running water, for example. Indoor plumbing. And, of course, hot water.

In March, our furnace broke down. The tech spent 9 hours working on it, bitching all the way. He advised us to stick with oil. (We have propane.) Fast forward a couple of months and suddenly we had no hot water. A succession of techs looked at it. Most admitted they had no idea how to fix it.

Did I mention we bought the system from their company?

The aforementioned tech arrived three different times. Finally, he took the system apart and sent pictures to the manufacturer. They had to order several expensive parts that, for all that we have a warranty on the rest of the system, were NOT on warranty. 17 days later we have hot water. The tech admitted he is not sure the furnace is completely fixed and if the problem reoccurs he will be back.

Last night I took my first hot shower at home in more than two weeks. (Thankfully, we have a gym membership and they have showers.)

I guess this could have been worse. It could have been January. Or we could have no water at all. Most of the time, we don’t even think about these conveniences. Boy howdy, I sure appreciate my hot water now.