Hot & Cold

My parent's house on Johns Street would never be seen in Elle Decor. It was a simple home that wore contagious scars proudly. It was not a place defined by its style; rather it was defined by the people who lived there and what went on between them. Very often that was the opposite of what one would normally expect, but we and the house came by it naturally. It was the plumbing's fault. 

  

Every other home on the street got their hot water by turning a handle left.  Our handle had to be turned to the right. Cold was found in the other direction. I now find myself out of synch with bathrooms all over the world, forever expecting things to be found in the wrong direction.

Once the water was on it was scalding hot. Insanely hot. The hot water in my parent's house was the stuff of third degree burns. I'd come home from a week at camp adjusted to the real world and freeze when expecting a hot shower or burn myself as I reached for water assumed to be cold.

Johns Street was a place of opposites. It was normal to expect one thing and get another.  In its own odd way that worked. It prepares you for anything.