Ah the simple conveniences of life! Running water! This last arctic freeze succeeded in shutting down the pipes to our kitchen sink… ominously threatening to burst them with obstructive ice… and keeping us in vigilant mode day and night to prevent a flood. A persistent problem in the past, even trashing our kitchen once, (due to the builder’s extremely poor architectural plumbing plan), we thought we had solved the problem with insulation, heat tape and changing out the copper piping for expandable synthetic ones. But no, the pipe freeze still happened. Dang! Keeping the faucet in open mode, we hoped beyond hope that the warming weather would open up the pipes before the bloating ice did! And VOILA! It did! And at a fun time too! Two friends blessed me with a Starbucks delivery and their much welcomed company. Perhaps it was the warmth of their thoughtfulness that unplugged the pipes, but as we chatted with caffeine-infused energy, suddenly a rush of water shot out of our kitchen sink faucet! HOORAY!!! No broken pipes! Running water restored! Maybe those more flexible plastic pipes did the trick after all! Rolled with the punches of the freeze a bit better than rigid copper piping. Not a bad admonition for all of us to be more malleable in the freezes that often overtake our lives!