Life Lessons in Pipe Fittings

The remainder of our new appliances finally came this past Saturday.  We’ve only been waiting for them for, oh, I don’t know…a MONTH.  Thanks, Lowe’s.

In any event, I was excited to see them installed and our kitchen transformed from ground zero of the apocalypse to something remotely livable.  But, of course, fate would have it that it couldn’t be so simple.  It turns out that we had some leaky pipe beneath the dishwasher that just didn’t want to connect right.  Dad even had to come help The Mister last night.  There they were, two grown men, laying on the floor of our kitchen, cursing bad pliers and wrenches and lamenting on a pipe fitting that just didn’t want to stay unbroken.

I felt bad doing anything else, so I sat there and watched them try over and over again to fix the thing, only to have it leak as soon as the water was turned back on.  The situation would be rather humorous and life-lesson-inducing if it weren’t so frustrating.

With my extra time, it had me thinking of all of the things that can’t seem to stay fixed in my life.  My health comes in at number one with a bullet.  No matter what one thing I fix, something else inevitably goes wrong.  As soon as I make it up one hill, I realize there’s a mountain lying on the other side.  It’s rather frustrating–much like trying to fix a leaky pipe.

Then I thought about my career.  I thought about how I tried so hard to get the pipe to fit at my last job, but it just didn’t want to take.  And I tried hard (that’s what she said).  But nothing was enough.  It wasn’t that I didn’t have what it takes–it was just a leaky pipe that didn’t want to cooperate.  I have to keep reminding myself of that when times are tough at the new job.  Leaving was the right thing to do.

Next I thought about my writing.  Sometimes the pipe just fits and I can run away with a storyline or a character like a vagabond on the streets of love. (Ten cool points to the person(s) who get the reference.)  But other times I just can’t seem to make the connection, despite many attempts to the contrary.  At those times, when I put down the proverbial pen, I feel guilty for not having made it connect, despite the fact that it’s not always my fault.

There are so many things that we blame ourselves for.  We end up cursing fate, cursing bad tools, cursing the heavens for some type of relief from the frustration.  But it turns out that in the frustration, we find our true selves…our true path.

It turns out that in the frustration, the latter leaks were caused by a bad connection in a fitting–one that was caused by something they did.  But finally, as is usually the case, the third time was a charm and they were able to stop the leak and let the job be done.

Life is much like that all too often.  We just have to keep plugging away at the pipe for things to fit.  Sometimes there will be leaky times and sometimes there will be dry times.  But the reward is the time you get to sit back and realize your work finally paid off…even if it happens late at night on a Sunday when you’d rather be relaxing.

Who knew leaky pipe fittings could cause such internal reflection?

What have your leaky pipe fittings been lately?  How have you worked through the frustration?