There are days you plan on teaching something. There are other days the teaching ends up happening because of life. Unexpected teaching moments. Sometimes they are for me, sometimes they are for the kids.  Sometimes those unexpected teaching moments are for us all.

Unexpected Teaching Moments

This weekend was one of those times. Waking up Saturday morning we had the oldest telling us there was water in the basement.  Sometimes with a spring warm up we will have some water in one pesky spot so we initially thought it was that.  Then we learned differently.

Our hot water heater at 16 years old had begun leaking that morning all over the basement creating a mess and a puddle was definitely an unexpected teaching moment that I was not planning on happening. Ugh!

(Of course you never plan the unexpected teaching moments, hence the name unexpected.  🙂 I know ha, ha. )

Plans forever go awry.

Even knowing that replacing a water heater is something that virtually no one actually plans for, it sucks to throw all plans out the window for the weekend to make it so you once again have hot water.  This was supposed to be our “last weekend” before the craziness of April begins.  Yes we had a few things planned to do, but mostly we were going to just enjoy being with each other.  After a week of sick kids I was hoping to have some time on my own to actually accomplish something (gasp!).  And hubby had a list of things to do that he hadn’t managed to finish during his busy week.

It all had to change.

What should have been a simple plan, turning off the water that led to the hot water tank, failed because the shut-off valve decided to at this point also to fail.

We kept saying after the first shut off valve failure (a different valve a few years ago) that we should replace all of them.  Life happened, finances have been tight, and we just haven’t.  It has been easy to put it off.  This once again reminded us of this wise plan, one that we should probably implement sooner than later.

We can always count on family.

Just like when I have had my surgeries, family is family and always taking care of us.

We had an offer from my in-laws to come straight up to help.  Then it was thought they would wait until the next day and we would just make do with cold water through the house.  After all it can be done.

When the water valve shut-off failed, and then it started to leak, family started heading this way.  We live hours from family and they drove up to help, only to also return home that night.

While my father-in-law and my husband worked downstairs, my mother-in-law listened to the kids entertain her and tell her stories, and show her their minecraft creations.  I know she had many unexpected teaching moments as the girls attempted to explain what they had done, or were doing.  🙂

I vacillated between the two and helping wherever I could.  I unexpectedly learned I was almost unable to just sit and not do anything.

We have life-skills to teach.

The girls didn’t have an appreciation yet for the fact they have running hot water in their house.  They have always had it and they took it for granted.  The logistics of turning off the water to the entire house and how to “survive” without running water in the house, is something that my husband and I have each been through, but the girls had no concept of.

We had discussions on how different restrooms were in colonial times – something that most books do not talk of at all – and how they hadn’t even thought of it being different than today.

They helped us gather water in containers for drinking, for washing, and toilets.  As they did we spoke of of examples from our own growing up and using outhouses at certain places.  We spoke of how it is different across the world even today.  Yes, I pulled out the in Africa there are places without running water.

I couldn’t quite point out there are still places here in the US that do not have clean water access in their homes.  With everything else already happening I couldn’t handle the discussions that would ensue and the thoughts of my sensitive one railing against the injustices.  Another day when I’m stronger we will tackle that topic and that needed realization.  This was an unexpected teaching moment that I was just not ready for.  :'(

Fit2B is working in me.

Even though I have not been nearly as diligent as I have wanted to be with my workouts, it is working.  Proof positive was as I hand-bailed the wet/dry shop-vac.  Squatting, tummy-tight, to get the water and then carry it the 12 steps to the utility sink only to come back and do it, again and again.  I emptied the shop-vac probably four times doing this.

I know at one point I would have had to just let things get destroyed, let the water pool because my body was broken enough that it would not have been able to do this.  I’m so grateful the water heater waited past that point.

I knew I could be strong enough to do it, so I did it, as carefully as I could.

Later that afternoon where the last surgery was it started to get sore.  So I cut back.  I should have put on my splint, but I didn’t, I honestly didn’t think of it.  I should have put it on before I started doing everything but my mind wasn’t working that way at the time.

My quads actually made it through until Sunday evening before they got sore.  There is a time and place in the not so distant past that squatting was not possible for me.  Making it until Sunday evening before walking up the stairs was harder is an accomplishment in my book.

Wondering about how squats are taught in Fit2B?  Here is a free video {affiliate link} that you can watch on All About Squats in the Fit2B workout listing.  {This is an affiliate link and if you decided later to purchase anything from Fit2B there would be a small affiliate income that I would receive to help support our family. Thank you.}

Now I still don’t have a good squat, but it is better than it ever was as a kid.  This weekend it was enough, and I was far enough along in my healing, to not damage myself doing what I needed to for my family.

I still need to do more.

My last unexpected teaching moment was for me alone.  I still need to focus on me, as I still need to become stronger.  I have been reflecting in the realization of my youngest turning four in the last month or two.  I realized that there have been four surgeries in less than the four years my youngest has been alive.  Even if you think of 6 months for “recovering” for each abdominal surgery that is two years… two years of the last four that I have just been in recovery phase.  We know for at least another year of that time frame, likely more, I was in pain with undiagnosed hernias.

I have been trying to think of making self-care more of a habit.  Not the type of self-care where I’m sitting eating bon-bons while taking a bubble bath.  That is just a false image of self-care.

I’m thinking more of making sure I drink enough water, making/taking time to do a Fit2B routine, taking time to do something fun like read a book for a few minutes and I’m not sure what else.  I’ve been thinking about this and forming it out.  I’m thinking something like 4 things for 40 days.  I hope to have it fully fleshed out soon and when I do I will come back and link it up.

Regardless….

I hope you had a more relaxing weekend and your Monday might not be quite the maddening Monday that I have had.

Blessings, Rebecca