A Mississippi mystery
A few weeks ago we traveled to Mississippi to attend the wedding of two young people who met, at least partially, through our ministry. The bride is one of 10 children and the groom is one of 12, so you can imagine the bridal party. I think we counted 27 attendants, including flower girls. It makes me want to go back and high-five my daughter Leah who, when she got married last May, had none. Ze-ro. Amen and amen for all the flowers we didn’t have to buy.
We stayed at an Airbnb with two other couples who are part of the ministry, and we only get to see them 2 or 3 times a year, so that was fun. And we learned a few things. (1) We are not the only ones who have cereal and milk for a bedtime snack. I think this is universal. (2) Babies sleep better after being passed around all day. (3) Roaches prefer warm bathrooms.
I only know this last fun fact because Ben and I were at the warm-bathroom end of the doublewide, er, Airbnb. It was one of those situations where things weren’t exactly level, so the door would swing shut unless you propped it open with the toilet-paper stand. Even then it stayed warmer in there than the rest of the house. We chalked it up to probably not the greatest heat system.
Then when it was my turn to take a shower, it took me a few minutes to figure out the tub faucet was hooked up backwards: cold where the hot should be and vice-versa. No big deal. I am an overcomer.
The next day Ben remarked that we needed to keep the toilet lid up or the seat would be wet.
Wait, what?
Slowly things began to come together in my mind. It was odd that, when you sat on the toilet, it felt like the bowl was full of warm air—warmer than the rest of the bathroom. At first I wondered why the owners would go to the expense of a heated toilet seat in a not-terribly-expensive rental unit. But no, it wasn’t the seat. It was the AIR in the bowl. One of the guys conjectured that there must be a heat vent behind the toilet, which could still be the answer, but the bowl air was warm even when the heat wasn’t on.
Are the wheels turning yet? This was driving me crazy until I put it together with the wet seat when the lid was down.
Here’s my theory: if the plumber didn’t know enough to hook the hot and cold water up to the shower correctly, could he (she?) have hooked up the wrong one to the toilet as well? Could we have hot toilet water? That would account for the warm air and also the condensation on the seat when the lid was down. What do you think? My bet is on me and my theory.
I know this much: the roaches were in tropical paradise. We never saw one in any other part of the house.