Stressless Plumbing, Dripless Faucets

I didn't have a firm plan for this morning, but thought I'd read for a bit after breakfast - that seems to be a good time for me to study.  Then I went into the bathroom, and the dripping faucet seemed to say, "You have time, you could fix me."

The faucet has been dripping for months, and as these things to, has been gradually worsening.  There were some repair parts from a previous project, so I got those and set to work.  This could be a 15 minute project - so why wait months to do it?  Because it could also not be a 15 minute project.  What could go wrong?  It's plumbing - pretty much anything could go wrong - and then I'm out of time and have a mess on my hands.  So, the rational decision often seems to just let it drip.

Over-scheduling, over-busyness, creates stressful situations like that.   But this morning, I had time to fix the faucet.  15 minutes?  All morning?  Whatever.

I turned off the hot water supply line and the drip stopped.  Good - just one side to fix.  I took the faucet stem apart and realized my leftover parts were incomplete.  That's OK, I can make a quick trip to the hardware store.  Then Pam came in and said, "The faucet upstairs is dripping too, can you fix that?"  Sure.

I took advantage of the trip to also stop at the grocery store for the granola they had been out of yesterday, and picked up some basil and mozzarella, because a caprese salad seemed like a good idea today.

Back home, I set to work on the faucet, replaced the washers, and reassembled.  Oops, handle rotates backwards - but the drip is fixed.  A quick reassembly, and faucet one is done.  Upstairs, the drip was also on the hot water side.  The handle was corroded on, but eventually succumbed to my efforts, and the rest of the job went smoothly.  This time, I knew the right orientation for the reassembly.  There's still one moment of anxiety, when the faucet is put back together and I turn the water back on, worried that there will be a drip, or worse, water will be shooting out of the faucet.  But all is well.  Water is on, and the seals are working as they should.

Simply having the time to work, knowing that if something went awry I could take the time to deal with it and not feel pressured by other tasks or commitments, felt really good.