March 1, 2011- Plunging Lessons...

     I’ve learned a lot in the last seven to nine years while bearing and raising two male children who love to talk about and participate in pooting and burping and generally being silly. One of the activities I have become particularly adept at is plunging the toilet to get rid of the frequent clogs from the interesting potty habits of my little darlings.   In the last three years, I’ve plunged so many toilets in so many different places that I lost count! During these “gypsy years,” it was common for me to check for a plunger first thing upon arriving at a hotel, a relative’s or friend’s house where we were visiting overnight or house sitting, or the rooms we stayed at on Roi for the weekends. While the boys checked out the “amenities” of these places, I made sure we had the necessities to handle two small boys with large bathroom deposits.  I know, I know, it’s disgusting, but once you have kids, talking about the gross parts of child birth, poop, projectile vomiting, and all sorts of other topics you wouldn’t dream about discussing in public with anyone, suddenly become acceptable and sometimes even a necessary part of conversations with fellow moms and dads you meet along the journey. Take tonight, for instance, as I stooped by my home’s one toilet with my left hand on the valve to turn the water off if needed and my right hand holding the plunger, I thought about what an “expert” (to use the term loosely) I had become at handling clogged toilets, and how this is a part of parenting I never would have guessed I needed to be prepared for or know how to do. It’s nice to sit and talk with someone occasionally who understands exactly what you are talking about and has become used to discussing these formally forbidden subjects with ease and a sense of humor. 

     The funny part is there are lessons to be learned from the act of plunging a toilet for your son, just as there are lessons to be learned from every experience in life, if we are simply open to being still long enough to discover them. What lessons, you say? Well, I’ve learned to always be prepared to turn the water off before it gets too high. This saves you the trouble of having to mop up the floor and wash all the bathroom rugs when you are not prepared for the water that will come rushing out if you don’t do something to slow its roll.  This has taught me to “be prepared” and to do what you can to prevent minor issues from becoming major ones by stopping the flow and putting everything back in perspective. Keeping my emotions in check when my children are frustrating me and stopping the flow of words that I sometimes want to vent upon others prevents me from making a challenging situation even more difficult and painful for everyone and gives me a moment to breathe and remember what’s important and what’s not...just as turning off the water before it overflows stops me from panicking and helps me remember that it’s just a clogged toilet, not the total destruction of my bathroom.     

     In addition to the first two “P’s,” preparation and prevention, I have also mastered the plunging part, which means getting rid of the things that are in the way, that are clogging up the mechanisms, so the clean water can flow freely again, and the toilet can operate as it was designed to do.  This is something we too must do in our lives periodically, clean out the old and painful memories that pull us down, the bad habits and downer friends and influences that keep us from moving forward, from discovering how much better and cleaner our lives could be if we simple let go and let life flow through us freely and without reservation or hesitation.  We must clean out our bodies, minds, and souls frequently to stay on the right track because if we don’t, our systems will become so clogged that all the bitterness, nastiness, and general grossness will begin flowing out of us, emanating from our thoughts and out our foul mouths, keeping us mired down in negativity and wondering why we are so unhappy.

     I can’t say I truly enjoy plunging the toilet every time my boys decide to spend some quality time on the potty, but the lessons to be learned from this mundane and sometimes disgusting task, including the importance of proper preparation, regular use of prevention tactics, and occasional, necessary plunging or cleansing strategies are all insightful life lessons that this act brings to mind, and they are necessary to put and keep me on the right road to long term physical, mental, and spiritual health and happiness.  Why don’t you try your hand at a little plunging activity tonight?! It’s very cleansing, I promise...a little disgusting too, but you’ll get over that before you know it, and the end results are worth the yucky part, anyway.