Achieving 66

Although this is not an image of me and friends, it is an image of how I plan to age - with lots of color!

Like most of you, I’ve spent my life merely becoming a year older after each full rotation of the earth around our sun. Until this year.

This year feels more like an achievement.

Achieving a year older rather than merely becoming a year older is a recognition that not all of my friends, family, or peers will get to experience their 66th year on this rotating planet of ours.

Over the past few years of stressful change, we’ve lost a few dear friends. Not to COVID. Those friends recovered. These lost their lives too soon to cancer – that damned disease that is stealthy, irrational, and just evil.

So, I planned to spend a week celebrating the gift of aging - and in the midst of all that, our sewer pipe collapsed.

We discovered the problem during our annual sewer line clean out by the company called Ron the Sewer Rat. No joke. These guys are always amazing. Always on time. And have been our preferred providers for 30 years. They found what appeared to be a partial collapse, and told us to quickly get on the calendar by one of the repair companies that specialize in these repairs.

Calls to the city Water and Sewer Department provided helpful and timely assistance and we got on the schedule for some time in January. As part of that process, we needed three bids with one of those companies requiring a video of the length of our sewer line to the street.

Two weeks after discovering the partial collapse, Ron the Sewer Rat returned to videotape our sewer line. If you haven’t seen a video of the 90 or so feet of a sewer line, it’s a combination of fascinating mystery and disgusting recognition that fortunately doesn’t last too long.

And that’s when we got the bad news. The partially collapsed pipe had given way and had moved into an emergency situation. This wasn’t just a small collapse that granted time to plan for future repairs. No. This was a full-on collapse that unknowingly threatened an equally full-on sewage back up into the basement we’re renovating as an exercise room for our aging selves.  

The calls to the city took on added urgency and were met with rapid help. We spent 48 hours in that difficult space of using little to no water that would wash down our pipes. No showers. No laundry or dishes washed. And very, very few flushes.

And then the trucks and the plumbers showed up with backhoes and jackhammers, and within 6 hours of breaking open the street, the flow returned to our pipes.

I’m finishing the week of achieving 66 with a greater sense of gratitude and recognition that although we may encounter sewage in our lives, there are always people out there who can provide help when called on.

And I’m grateful to still be here to need their help.