Why Water for Christmas.....

one of the reasons that water for Christmas is so dear to me.....

When we moved here, to the backside of nowhere from Memphis, the in-laws barely escaped having us live in their basement.....

You may laugh at that, but it's the honest-to-goodness truth!

You see, where we live there is a severe housing shortage, with 3 year long waiting lists for apartments and the like. Houses sell before they're listed, or within hours of listing. So it's not a place where you can rest on your laurels hoping the "perfect" situation will come along.

We were supposed to have a place to move into when we got here, but come to find out, the lady rented it to someone else who could move in right away.

At the very last minute, my hubby's dear parents found something and rented it right away, lest we end up homeless with a truck full of stuff. It seemed perfect - out in the country with lots of room.....

But when we started to move in, we noticed that the water had a funny smell..... and the landlord told us not to drink from the taps. Lo and behold, come to find out, the water was from a well, and that water was not potable.

Now folks, i am a city girl through and through, and i didn't even know that people in this country got their water from WELLS, let alone one that you couldn't drink from..... And from there my list of lessons has grown immensely!

The first night we stayed in our new home, we were to meet my hubby's new boss and his wife at their home for pizza. My son needed a shower and when he turned the water on he proceeded to throw a 30 minute full-blown tantrum, complete with kicking and screaming and banging himself on the floor. Nothing short of a threatened spanking would get him in that shower.

It was so bad that all of us began to hesitate to bathe. What's worse, stinking or stinking and having that nasty stuff all over you?

The first 6 months we stayed in the country house, i cried myself to sleep at night, with the house smelling like the sewer had backed up, watching my white dishes turn funky colors, seeing our clothing ruined from the water, and seeing the black murkiness standing in my white French Corning Ware when it needed to soak.

We had to haul water for drinking and cooking from the store, and since that was such a dreaded chore i would always stock up so it would last us a while.

And that brings me to my point: Mercifully, i was ABLE to go to the store and haul clean water home for my family to drink.

But in lots of places in this world, clean water of any kind is just simply not an option.

And my heart goes out to them, knowing some of what that's like.....