It's not me, it's you

[pbray]

July 4th, 1993 - August 10th, 2008
When we first met, you were the answer to my prayers. You brought joy to everyone in the house. But as the years passed, I began to take you for granted.

Recently I've suspected that you were planning to betray me. I took to checking up on you, but even though I no longer trusted you, I could never quite bring myself to break up. I kept hoping that we could stay together a little longer.

At least until the vacation bills were paid off. But you had other plans.

So farewell A.O. Smith 40-gallon gas water heater. We had good years together. In a gentler clime you might have lived longer. But as it was, you beat the odds.

And now I've got someone new, who promises to heat up my life. Starting in about forty-five minutes.

Comments

[davidkeck.livejournal.com]

One of the joys of co-operative apartment living is that you never meet your water heater. Or boiler, maybe.

You don't meet it, either way.

But you can hear it clanging come winter. Clanging with the fury of King-Kong throwing himself against his chains. Clanging with the tentative echoes of a prisoner who remembers Morse code. Clanging with the industrious abandon of the Dwarves of Moria Steel Band and Calypso Ensemble.

Yes. We're all in hot water now.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Ah for the indifferent fury of a shared boiler rather than the slow relentless drip of petty spite focused upon but a single soul.

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

I can't help but notice the birthdate is July 4th. There's a story there, methinks.

Sorry I missed you at WorldCon. Actually, that's not quite true--I saw you a few times but you were walking with purpose and a determined look on your face. Places to be, people to see and all that. :)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

:-( Sorry we didn't hook up-- it was a crazy conference for me.

And yes, there is a special joy to having a catastrophic failure of a water heater on July 4th, with the holiday premium overtime rates from your plumber. As you can tell, the date was seared in my memory.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

My mother had one die on her six days before the warranty ran out. She didn't know that - she called the place she bought it from,thinking about repair/replacement, and it turned out the warranty included a total replacement clause. Six days! she was happy.
Is your new one On-Demand? I'm thinking of going that way, when the time comes.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's not on demand, but seems reasonably energy efficient and reliable, which is what I wanted.

[dynastic-queen.livejournal.com]

LOL! That is brilliant.

Congrats on segue-ing from the old relationship to the new one with a lot of class. :-)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks!