The art of communication OR Always label your buckets

Rob cleaned the fish tank this weekend. He uses a siphon to remove old water, siphoning into a large bucket which he then dumps into the bathtub. We were in a bit of a rush, so he quickly grabbed the first bucket he found, headed upstairs, siphoned, and picked up the bucket to dump the dirty water in the bathtub. What happened next is a testament to the clarity with which my family communicates.

Sparkly very calmly announced, “Hey Daddy, I think we have a problem.”

Rob, still carrying the heavy bucket of water through Sparkly’s room, responded “what’s the problem son?”

Sparkly, “Uh…I think we leaked.”

Rob, still unsure, still lugging said bucket full of filthy fish poopy water, “what do you mean we leaked?”

Sparkly pointed to the 4 streams of water flowing from the bottom of the bucket.

Rob, now grasping the fullness of the situation, “ooh! I guess we leaked!”

Then Sparkly, unable to resist the delicious temptation to tattle on his daddy, and desiring to bring me in to the situation walked out into the hall, hung his head over the banister and yelled “WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!”

Rob, in his haste, picked up one of the buckets we use to water the trees in the drought of the summer. He had drilled 4 holes in the bottom of each of these buckets so the water drips out through the bottom. They look just like the other buckets with no holes. I suspect labeling with a sharpie marker might be in my best interest in the future.

The entire time Rob was siphoning, water was dripping out of the 4 holes in the bottom of the bucket. And throughout the painfully long conversation between Rob and Sparkly, water was streaming out of the bucket onto the floor across Sparkly’s room, and into the bathroom. How my highly tuned-in husband missed these streams of water, I’ll never know.