• Eastham, Cape Cod, MA, US

we planned to go up to the cabin for one night. we brought one evening’s worth of food and one change of underwear. it was to be a quick trip, and there was no need for more. Except that when we got to the cabin, the water didn’t work. We made dinner in the microwave and found what water we could. And developed a toilet strategy.

Despite starting to call at 4pm on Sunday, no one could come and investigate until late afternoon on Monday. We survived on the little water we had and on food we could dig out of the freezer and cabinets. The girls thought this pioneer living was fun.

The guy from the well/pump service showed up without any tools but found the problem — a busted pipe coming out of the well. It has been a particularly cold winter in north Georgia. He left and came back 2 hours later with the wrong sized PVC. Then he said he’d come back in the morning. I told him that we had been without water for 24 hours and the toilets were way past needing to be flushed, he agreed to try to come back that evening. At 8:30pm, I had given up on him, but he did come and fix the pipe in the dark! Running water! What luxury!

Tuesday morning, we woke to a white world. By the time my conference call was over, the roads were inches deep in snow and not drivable (not many plows in north Georgia, you know). We settled in for a day of fun in the snow. We found some clean clothes in the dresser and dug more food out of the freezer. We made lemonade out of lemons and enjoyed our downtime.

Wednesday morning, we woke to a road that was a solid sheet of ice. There was not much food left; the girls ate cookies for breakfast. By 2pm, after my conf call, we hit the slushy roads home.

The downtime had two consequences for me — time to think a little too much and time of not eating right and not exercising. More on that later.

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