One thing you may not appreciate about your daily life back in the U.S. is turning on the faucet and getting water. Actually, we can turn on the tap and get water here, at least most of the time, making us quite lucky by West African standards.

With that water we can wash our hands, wash dishes, and so forth. But we can’t drink it. We can’t make Flynn’s bottles with it. We can’t rinse fruits and vegetables with it. We can’t brush our teeth with it. For all those things, and anything else that involves consuming the water, we must use the distiller that sits in the corner of our kitchen:

We’re lucky to have clean water available to us in our home, of course, but still, getting it requires an extra step. It’s not too cumbersome of a step for tasks completed in the kitchen since the distiller is after all right there.

For things like teeth brushing and nighttime bottles, though, dealing with the water situation can become tiresome. You have to plan your water needs ahead of time and make sure to take the appropriate amount of distiller water upstairs with you. Andy maintains that this really isn’t such a big deal. I, however, am the lazier of us two — at least when it comes to househouse tasks — and I respectfully disagree.

For Flynn’s bottles, this nightly distiller water dance is something we’ll continue to do no matter how annoying. For myself, though, sloth has recently begun to win out. I’m pretty sure I brushed my teeth with tap water in Niger, where the water situation must have been similar. People from here drink the water, so it’s not lethal or anything. What’s the worst that could happen? It takes my immune system a while to adjust? So what? Big deal.

And so… as Andy looked on with chagrin, I went for it. Yes, I began brushing my teeth with the forbidden water. That was over a week ago, and guess what? I’m still here. I haven’t even felt a tiny bit sick or anything.

Score one for me.

It may seem like just a small thing, and of course it is. But still, one less small thing to worry about is one less small thing to worry about. I’ll take it.