Nothing Makes Me Happy

Have you ever noticed how sometimes, nothing makes you happy. I don't mean that you are not about to achieve happiness, rather I mean you are made happy by something which is not there. Well today there is a certain nothing that is making me happy. A blissful absence.

Last night when we went to bed, we didn't have this nothing we had a something, a leaky bathtub that had filled a couple inches of water in the bathtub throughout the day. We've had this leak for a while. It started with just needing to tighten the handles. Then it got to the point only I could tighten the handles so they wouldn't drip. Finally, in the last week, I would leave the bathroom having worked out my arms on the dated hot and cold handles with the sound of dripping still in the air.

There is something to this that is particularly bothersome. It's not just the sound, which I made quieter but running the leak through the shower handle, which I hung loose near the. Ottoman of the tub. I think it is the fact that something that is mine is broken, something which I should fix. Every drip is a failing of what the man in the house is supposed to be.

Today, as soon as I got up I knew I was going to address this. I had no choice. My wife said so.

I had done this repair before, on the cold side, ut this time it was the hot water leaking. I remembered the tools I would need and even had the little rubber gasket I would need to replace to stop the leak. The problem was, it was more than a year since I did the repair, so I wasn't sure of all of the steps. In addition to the tools, I took my iPad.

It feels very Matrix to me. Rather than being Trinity asking for the knowledge to drive a Bell Helicopter, I'm just an average guy asking for the knowledge to repair a leaky faucet. I'm not instantly trained, as she was, but with the iPad, YouTube and a series of one minute videos, I have step by step instructions to eliminate the leak. Water Off. Handle Removed using the specialized tool I had to buy last time. Take note, this is why men need lots of tools. Then I'm stopped. I forgot that last time I needed to get a large socket to remove the stem. I could have bought these sockets last time, but my father-in-law, who has a minimum of two of every tool, except the specialized tool I had to buy last time, lives just two doors down. It is only a minor delay and I'm back at it.

The rest of the repair goes smoothly. It is the moment of truth. I tighten the handles and go downstairs to turn back on the water. I turn the cold, then hot back on and listen to the water fill the pipes. It just a moment, the system pressurized and the sound stops. I walk up stairs, slowly, listening. I enjoy everybit of. Oohing I hear.

It is a success. I turn the water on, then off in the tub, just to make sure it is not a fluke. It works. That's right, I fixed it. I close the door and do a little victory dance to the sound of nothing.