My First Time

Drew would be so proud: I re-lit the water heater pilot light all by myself. It's kind of an anxious job, your face being so close to that little opening of gas and future flame. Well it all started with my mom catching whiffs of natural gas coming off our fireplace, one of those decorative numbers with the fake logs. So early this morning she called the gas company and a guy came out pretty quickly, i.e. within 30 minutes, with one of those electronic sniffing machines, checked everything, was quite thorough. You'll be reassured to know that the leaks, on both the fireplace and the water heater, are minor, not hazardous or life threatening, but we should probably have it fixed. As the guy is leaving, he mentions that our water heater is missing its outer fire door, should have two, and that he's not allowed to relight our pilot for us because of it. The significance of that statement didn't really make an impression on us until much later in the evening when my mom was trying to take a shower – with virtually no hot water. So with Drew out of town (until Saturday), I figure as temporary head of the family, I must step up to the plate. I tell you, I read the directions quite thoroughly several times, and for each time that I read the warnings, I got more and more nervous. But now it's done and we can all have our comfortable showers tomorrow.