Strength. Determination. Drive. The burning desire to get something done, whatever the something is that has been put in your line of sight.
All of those things constitute intestinal fortitude. We all have those traits to some degree. But. Yes an intestinal driven “but.”
When I see something that must have taken not only intestinal fortitude but a vision. Oh my brain goes into overdrive with what must have been quite a story. Like this.
Do you ever see something and wonder, “How and why is that there?” That happened to me on a road trip recently. I was driving down the west side of a summit that is somewhat curvy so I was going al little slower than usual.
Wink, wink. That’s when I saw a very old rusty iron pipe coming out of the side of the mountain. Just sticking out like it had been there for more years than I have been around.
It was maybe a two inch iron pipe and was sticking out above the roadway some 20 or 30 feet and it had to have been buried at least ten feet below the surface whenever it was very first laid.
About eight feet of pipe. Just poking out from the mountain side. No buildings or rock structures around it. No signs of previous life being there. So it made me wonder. Why? Why is it there?
Where was it supposed to carry what I supposed was water to and from. Mostly I got to thinking, “What intestinal fortitude the guy must have had that first laid it.”
I think the words intestinal fortitude is something I remember my dad saying. I may be remembering wrong but it just sounds like him. I have always felt that push to dig deeper, try harder, and stick it out no matter the odds against me to get things done. It doesn’t always work out though. For instance…
A few days ago I flushed the toilet in my bathroom and the chain thingy broke off the flapper thingy in the tank thingy. Now you have to know I live alone and a long way from the place I would buy a fix it thingy for this break in my toilet. So I did what I usually do. I went about the task of fixing it myself. Because, well you know, that intestinal fortitude kicked in. It had to be fixable right? Of course it is fixable it’s just a thingy.
In my head I began to develop a plan. I just needed to figure a way to reattach the flapper and the chain with the lease amount of frustration and yes, effort! No problem-o. Yes “problem-o.” I say that because if I do, it makes the problem seem laughable not unsurmountable. Not that reattaching the flapper to the chain is a big thing. But along with all the other things that seem to happen to me it added to the mountain I face each day.
Ok, I have always been a bit of a duct tape and baling wire girl. So in my head I figured a safety pin, a paper clip and a prayer was all I needed.
A pair of pliers, a vice grip—the one with the needle nose, the pin and paperclip and voila. Oh it is a beautiful fix. It looks a little bit like that pipe sticking out of that mountain side. You know, both out of place and quite questionable in their existence.
A vision that makes one look and say, “Well what the???” It worked too. Okay it worked for two flushes. Then the seal didn’t quite seal and the water began to leak.
Just a tiny, far away sounding drip, drip drip-ity drip. Then the water would get low enough in the tank then like magic there’s a ker-flush and the tank begins to fill. Again, over and over again. AARRGGHH
I now know that the water in the tank of a toilet is as cold as the water coming off a glacier.
Oh and it takes about three minutes for the feeling to come back into my hands after trying to get the flapper thingy to seal enough to stop that cute little tiny drip, drip, drip, ker-flush.
Intestinal fortitude. I have that. I also know that a better fix is needed. But! Until then I have put a weight on top of the flapper to seal it from leaking and I am using my second bathroom.
See, there is always, always a fix. Anyone know a good plumber that will work for muffins?
Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Her funny books are available wherever you buy books or email her at itybytrina@yahoo.com to buy signed copies.
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