The Gospel of Hot Water

For some reason, we say we are “in hot water” when we are in trouble.

But what about when there is no hot water, then we are really in trouble!

For no explanable reason, the hot water heater in the house suddenly died, and it couldn’t be fixed or replaced for two days.

You would have thought we were on the Bataan Peninsula marching toward our demise, the way we agonized over the lack of hot showers, hot water for cleaning dishes, applying extra doses of deoderant.

Sure I could have taken a cold shower, which is fine when you are at the beach and the temperature outside is 98 degrees with 90% humidity. I could have heated up a limited amount of water in the still-functional microwave or in a pot on the stove and had a nice hot shave or a warm sponge bath.

This two-day hot waterless interlude got me thinking about how coddled we are as humans. (coddle means to boil gently! It was originally derived from a 1300’s term caudle, a warm drink prepared for invalids ) When we camp (on a smooth graded camping site, atop an air mattress), we expect there to be hot showers nearby. Oh, how we suffer!

Called a “geyser” in the UK, a Norwegian mechanical engineer named Edwin Ruud invented the first automatic, storage tank-type gas water heater in 1889 soon after he immigrated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Wikipedia). So, we’ve had about 130 years (four to five generations) to develop a deep sense of entitlement to a hot morning shower.

I wonder what we did before hot water heaters, and now that I don’t have one, I have a much better idea.

I think this is why a nature hike brings us a calm effect and spiritual refresh. It immediately removes from this buffer world of human invention and convenience and puts us directly in touch with some force much larger than our human brains can fathom. It’s as refreshing as nice hot shower….

Note: this chapter is an excerpt from a forthcoming expanded edition of my 2016 book of essays “The Low Wire: Meditations on Loss and Creative Restoration.”

Photo credit: William Warby, Victorian hot water spigot from the Steam Museum, Kew, London