“Too Little Hot Water”

Today, the machine told me: Error — too little hot water, too cold.

A clear message, even for a Monday.

So I rolled up my sleeves, opened her up, and found the culprit —

a lazy little valve called Y39, half-asleep behind a clogged filter.

I fixed it, ran a test, and poured myself a cup of tea —

fresh ginger with lemon.

That’s when I heard my mother’s voice in my head again.

She used to call ginger tea “stuff for goat-wool hippies.”

She also used to say, “Just be normal, son. Don’t stick your head above the crowd.”

She meant it kindly, the way her parents once meant it to her.

It was their way of keeping life safe, predictable — lukewarm.

But as I sipped that steaming cup,

I realized something:

You can fix a valve, replace a filter, even warm the water again.

But when your own life runs cold,

no system, no manual, no rulebook can tell you who you are.

That part —

you have to find by getting your hands dirty,

listening to the hiss of your own boiler,

and daring to add a little more heat.

#system #Freedom #mother