This was going to be my New Years Day post but a flood in my house on New Years Eve got in the way. At first it was just an obvious emergency I had to deal with, then it became the real life lesson that illustrates this quote.
So, about that flood. It was all my fault. Why? Because I didn’t think small, I thought big. Well, not exactly big, but bigger than I should have at the moment. In other words I didn’t pay attention to the small details that were important. REALLY important. Here’s how it came about.
I am a do-it-yourselfer and since we moved to our new house in Texas from Oklahoma I have been doing a LOT of DIYing. The latest project is a remodel of our guest bathroom. Wallpaper has been stripped and replaced, tub has been recaulked, lights have been replaced and old vanity countertop has been removed in anticipation of our new one being put in. All has gone according to plan.
Since the countertop was off and I could get to them easily I decided I would replace all four old and worn out water valves leading to the two sinks. Often times this is a job for a pro plumber since it can take a blow torch and ‘sweating’ and soldering of pipes.
But in this case it looked like an easy replacement by cutting off the old valve and just leaving a clean copper pipe that I could then attach to the new valve using what is called a compression fitting. Easy peasy, right? Yes, if you do it step by step.
It sounds very dorky but I was very excited to be able to do this by myself so I traipsed down to Home Depot and got all the right tools and parts I would need. Then I got right to it on New Year’s Eve day. I used this cool tool that you snap around the copper pipe and just rotate and it makes this perfect cut. And it did. Only one problem. In my excitement I didn’t think through the order of the steps I needed to take. Like the obvious important step of turning off the water to the house BEFORE cutting the pipe. Duh.
Even though there is a very harrowing but entertaining story about the consequences of me cutting that pipe, for now it will suffice to tell you that I created a massive flood in my house before we were able to get the water turned off. A flood that required us calling our insurance company and having a ‘water mitigation’ team come out and deal with it.
It’s now 2 days later and the wood flooring in the living room and two hallways is torn out and will have to be replaced. The carpet in parts of 3 rooms is also lifted up and is drying, most likely needing to be replaced.
All baseboards are removed and there are holes in all the effected walls (below the baseboard line luckily). Those holes have giant loud fans next to them blowing air into the walls to dry it all out. The carpets also have fans on them. There are also two big dehumidifiers going in the house. All of them will be going 24/7 for 3 days.
And why did this happen? Because I didn’t go small. I didn’t pay attention to the step by step details I needed to pay attention to. This is a DIY version of something that happens to us all at one time or another. We think so much about the big plans that we lose sight or skip the small steps needed to make sure the big plans come off as we want them too. It might be travel plans, or Covid19 protection, or gun and hunting safety, or a million other things.
The point is, taking the time to think through and execute the small things well is what will make for a safe and happy big thing.
© 2021 Marty Coleman | Napkindad.com