Thursday, October 19, 2006

i'm a Toys R' Us kid

as i was washing dishes, i happened to notice our stainless steel kitchen sink is stained. coffee stains. kind of a henna patina. the sink is only a year and a half old, and stainless steel, and therefore should not be stained. we had to replace it when Punkin was only a couple weeks old. it started with a leaky faucet, dripping faucet, soaking the cabinets faucet. trust me, you really need a working kitchen sink when you have an infant. when el Jefe’ started the project, i knew we were in for numerous trips to Home Depot, because no home improvement project is complete in a single trip. it’s a fact of nature. and home improvement projects require many beers … don’t start unless you’ve got a 12-pack in the fridge. we opted to replace the extremely worn white porcelain sink in addition to the faucet. in order to get the sink to fit, we bought a special diamond blade to cut the granite counter tops (second trip). fortunately, we were able to borrow the accompanying tool for the special blade. the third trip was for a colored compound to patch the granite, which wasn’t available at Home Depot, but Lowe’s had something, although both establishments recommended we call in a granite expert. what patron who shops at Home Depot or Lowe's actually has access to a granite expert? in the end, all was right in the universe because the home improvement project took three trips and looks less than perfect.

so the stainless steel sink is stained. rather unremarkable. but at that moment, i realized it is my sink, and not the sink in my parents’ home. (of course not. my mother would never allow her sink, stainless or not, to be stained. obviously she spends more time cleaning up after her cleaning lady than i do.) i am a homeowner. technically, i don’t own my home but i’ve been paying mortgages since the early 90’s. the feeling was not one of satisfaction, or accomplishment, or security. it was more of the realization that i’m supposed to be a grown-up.

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