The Overlooked Pleasure of Water

It's easy to forget how essential water is, especially in the kitchen. Happily, my new friend and neighbor Tom helped me today by installing my new kitchen faucet. I can wash the dishes again, the old-fashioned way: by hand.For me, doing so is an act of quiet contemplation. Sometimes, I think about washing dishes with my mother when I was in 9th grade and learning Latin. "Hic, haec, hoc," we'd both repeat ad infinitum. Sometimes, I think about my friend Trink, who, before her stroke, liked to clean her kitchen alone because, she said, she had conversations with her husband B, who died some years ago. Sometimes, I look out at the window at the birds and squirrels in the side yard. And sometimes -- often, I admit -- I just enjoy feeling hot water run over my hands.

Tonight, thanks to Tom, I can look forward to doing the dishes again without worrying about the leak.