It took a little under five hours.

I'd been sweating it, off and on, for a week. Planning the steps over and over in my mind. All the things that could go wrong, and when. For a task that a professional would consider routine, and probably whip out in less than two hours.

But it is done. We have hot water again, and this heater doesn't leak on the floor. And of the thousand things that could have gone wrong...

Maybe only a half dozen actually did. None of which required an emergency run into town for a plumbing part or tool.

But it was close.

I've been in that room at least four times since. Just looking. And listening to the gas roar as we spend money to heat water.

One of those great conveniences of modern life that you don't appreciate until it isn't there.

And I've been checking the joints. Each and every one, again and again.

Like I can't believe they're still holding.

And right now, I probably just jinxed it.

Better go check...