The Tale of the Leaky Sink
I’d like to tell you a story about a bathroom sink drain. Exciting, yes, I know. Let me start by explaining the setup of our house, and you’ll see why this sink drain is so important to me. Right now, we have 5 people and 4 animals living in 1,300 square feet. It’s Seattle, in the winter, so our yard is of roughly no use, except for the dogs, who have to be dragged out there kicking and barking to go to the bathroom. I know how blessed we are to be housed, to be safe, to have income. But the three girls share a bedroom, and during the day, there are three zoom calls ranging all over the house, plus Forrest working and taking calls in our room. Which means that if I want a moment alone, my best bet is our powder room. There’s a bathroom fan, which muffles the cacophony of three elementary school classes (they even gave them recorders this year), and a stool, where I can sit and take deep breaths.
I realized about a month ago that the drain in our powder room sink was dripping. I knew there was some water issue going on and so I put a bowl under it, taped an out of order sign on the faucet, aimed a fan at the wet spot, and ordered the parts. A few days later, there were still problems with water and now the floors around the sink were getting warped. Some more investigation and Forrest saw that the shut-off valve was leaking too. The drain seemed do-able to me - no spraying water, just remove and replace. But a valve connected to the water line? It seemed impossible.
In normal times, I’d call a plumber. But it’s not normal times and my handy do-it-yourself-ness kicked in. So we’d try on our own. No big deal, right? But it’s not normal times and every time I would go to hide in the bathroom and see the giant bin full of cleaning products that usually live under the sink, I would turn around. No longer my quiet haven. Plus, the floors, while not too damaged, will now one day need to have those boards replaced. And refinished. And. And. And.
I kept putting it off. How stupid! I would think as I walked by the giant reminder of my to-do list hanging over my head. How lazy! I would tell myself as I chose to use our other bathroom to avoid seeing the water damage. How childish! I would repeat when I saw how long I had let the drip go on instead of at least figuring out what the problem was.
I had therapy this week and I was talking about how in this year of sweatpants and eating cake frosting out of a can, I didn’t know how to tell when I was giving myself a needed break and when I was falling into the danger zone. In that annoying therapist way, she asked me to tell her what some signs would be that I had really hit rock bottom. I went through my list. “Not ever leaving the house, not even to go outside and get the mail.” “Not eating any fruits or vegetables all day.” “Watching tv all day long with no break.”
I realized how far I am from my rock bottom and used my small amount of motivation to set aside some time this morning to at least try to fix the drain. The sink valve, still seeming overwhelming, was for another day. I won’t lie, it was super gross and hard. But it was finished. And I had just enough motivation to look up a YouTube video for how to tackle the valve. I could at least order the parts, right?
The first video was one by SeeJaneDrill and it basically said, before you replace a leaky valve, try tightening the nut around it. It won’t hurt and it might solve your problem. I tried it, set a bucket under the valve and and a 1 hour timer. And of course, you guessed it. The problem that’s been on my mind for a month? Fixed in 30 seconds with a wrench.
I could beat myself up for not just tackling it, but we’re in a damn pandemic and I’m not going to do that. We’re all doing the best we can with what we’ve got. So I’m going to just feel proud that the weight is off my mind. And maybe hide in there with a bowl of ice cream after dinner tonight. In the peace and quiet of the bathroom.
