A Lesson I Learned Under My Kitchen Sink

It was 10:00 P.M., and I was tired. It had been a very busy day, and we had had company for dinner. Now I faced a kitchen piled with mounds of dirty dishes. I loaded up my faithful dishwasher and began filling up the sink to attack the remainder of the dishes.

It was then I realized that both sides of my sink were full of dirty water that refused to go down. With a sigh of frustration, I headed downstairs for a bucket. I mentioned in passing to my husband what I was doing, feeling proud of myself in advance for the excellent plumbing job I would accomplish. My dear husband knows me well after almost 11 years of being married to me, so he kindly stayed put to let me work my magic.

I was about 26 seconds into the job when the dirty water that had been in my sink began to spray all over me and the kitchen. I was 26.2 seconds into the job when I bravely and confidently called, "Help!" It didn't take my husband long to get there--I kind of got the idea he was expecting this.

He fixed the problem quickly, and I started in on the job of mopping up dirty water from my floor and under the sink. I was a bit embarrassed that I couldn't accomplish this minor task. I have a few friends who could do major plumbing jobs better than their husbands, yet I couldn't manage to fix my stopped up sink without having to renovate the kitchen. However, a few minutes later I proudly surveyed the clean, neat area under the sink and realized that I wasn't too bad at organizing the kitchen cupboards even if I was an awful plumber.

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The lesson I learned was simply this: I wasn't supposed to fix the sink. Yes, I know, very profound. No, I'm not creating a stereotype about household plumbing being a "man's job" (if I were, a few of my friends' husbands would be in trouble!). However, I must realize that some things in life are things that I cannot do well (or in this case, at all).

That mom that keeps perfect scrapbooks of her children's special moments? I applaud her creativity, but that's not me. The homeschool mom that actually looks forward to the volcano experiment in science? Let's just say, I shudder to think of it!

I could list a lot of things I can't do because I'm not wired that way, but there is really no point to that. The main thing to take away from under the sink (besides that mountain of 362 plastic grocery bags) is that I need to focus on the things I can do well--not the things others can do well. 

Now please excuse me while I go peek under my sink again...this accomplishment has been a long time in coming!