Creature Comforts

One of the things living in Costa Rica is teaching me is how many things I take for granted. One of those things: hot running water. I do have an electric-water-heater-shower-head so I get warmish showers, but everything else I do is done with cold water. And hey, I'm not complaining. I can drink the water here. There's enough of it to go round (mostly - the first weekend I was here, there was a planned water-outage for 24 hours) and in most places in the country, its clean water. I am more aware of my water usage here - I take fewer showers, and am a lot better about shutting water off for the brief moments in between kitchen tasks. I hadn't even really noticed not having hot water come out of the taps, until this weekend.

Due to their concerns about our safety, Amanda's parents put us up in a really nice hotel/resort on Saturday night. We walked into our hotel room and immediately decided that we would share the bed, since neither of us wanted to sleep on the pull out couch when a bed that looked that lovely was available (it was very lovely). We explored every inch of the room, but our favorite discovery happened while I was washing my hands. I turned the water on, and after soaping my hands, stuck them under the water, and yelped. The water was too hot for my hands. I hadn't even known how much I had missed being able to wash my hands with hot water until I was able to again. And oh my gosh. A hot water heater for a shower is so much better than the electric-shower-head - there was water pressure and the water was uniformly hot.

I've always known that I am privileged - I live a very comfortable life. My worries tend to be more of what my friends and I term "first-world problems": problems that are not about survival but comfort. Missing hot water? I have running water. Who on earth am I to complain? My privileges came out of nowhere and whacked me on the head with a 2x4, and made me much more aware of the little things that I take for granted that are pretty darn great. My bed. Electricity. Internet. A fridge. Washing machine. . . the list goes on and on. And maybe, instead of thinking about the things I don't have, or would like to have, like hot water or a clothes dryer, I should focus on the other lists, of things I do have.