There is a Thanksgiving/Christmas-inspired commercial which is virally being shared via FB right now. It’s of a family in their Suburban home in the United States going about their morning as they get ready for work and school. As they turn on the lights, or the shower or their car, a large holiday bow suddenly appears on the item. As if each modern convenience were a holiday gift. Which indeed of course each is.
It reminds me of one aspect I truly love about living in Nicaragua: It’s really hard to take modern conveniences and comforts for granted.
Practically every night for the past week our electricity has flicked immediately back on … after having flicked off. I consider it a nightly reminder of how awesome and magical electricity is.
We’re currently sleeping in our guest room while the toxic fumes used to kill the termites in the wood in our Master bedroom dissipate. It’s going on 6 nights now. I consider it a reminder of the bliss of living, however temporary, bug-free. And of having a guest room. And of having a caretaker who knows how to combat termites. The list goes on.
Our washing machine works again. Hooray. Hooray.
And even though our guest shower’s shower head doesn’t work right now (it keeps getting filled with sediment in our water pipes and this time refuses to be cleaned out so we need a new shower head, again) our master bedroom’s shower head still does, so that’s awesome.
And hallelujah our hot- water-on demand tank is back to working after two months of not working, thanks to a friend bringing the necessary replacement part back from the States for us. I can take warm showers again and I can wash dishes without having to heat water on the stove first. Hooray for hot water! What a gift!
My flip flops work great and even held up while hiking over rock headlands recently. And I have 2 pairs of tennis shoes for hiking.
And although we don’t have a car we can occasionally rent one when we need to go out of town, and otherwise we can walk to town, to the beach, and to go exercise whenever we want.
Yes, living in Nicaragua makes me appreciate many of the magical, everyday things I took for granted (and I daresay most Americans take for granted) while living in the United States.
And yes, this almost forced reminder of daily gratitude and wonder is one of the many things I love the most about living here in Nicaragua.
