Gratitude in the Time of e-Coli

by Fayeruz Regan 03.2025

Practicing gratitude is an important component to happiness. Unfortunately, I have the tendency to feel sorry for myself. Scratch that - it’s beyond a tendency. Sometimes I revel in it. 

And yet, January’s water crisis refused to let me indulge in self-pity. It was as if life were beating us over the head with reasons we should be grateful. 

Sure, I was shoveling snow into a bucket, putting said bucket on a radiator to melt (to half its volume), then pouring the contents into the back of my toilet. The nadir of the experience was shivering in sub-zero temperatures, packing show into buckets, pots, and pans that filled my dining table, all waiting their turn to sizzle on the radiator so they could usher excrement into our pipes. 

But when I came in to defrost, our screens showed people in California watching everything they own burn to the ground, our own friends included. Displaced Palestinians fleeing a hospital that was purposefully set on fire, dragging their own oxygen tanks in hospital gowns. A little perspective reminded me of how pampered we are, and how we forgot the grit we unearthed during those COVID years. We’ve been here before, just in a different capacity. 

Why were we bemoaning these subzero temperatures, when it was the only thing preserving this fresh snow? It gave us the gift of clean water, and it was all around us. We used it to make coffee, wash our hands, flush the pipes, you name it. And best of all? We used it for joy.

With the extra week of vacation students scored from this, the mini village of children on our block of Bellevue got restless. Yes, we adults have jobs, and the lack of childcare was a stick in our spokes. But you know what else? This was the snow day they’ve been waiting for. Their sleds have sat dormant in our garages for two years. We dusted them off, headed to Bryan Park, and flew down those hills so fast, it scared us a little. Even parents couldn’t resist. We screamed, we giggled, we lost the feeling in our toes. 

This was of course followed by hot tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, on paper plates and plastic utensils if you knew what was good for you. I enjoyed the excuse not to wash dishes. Parents on this block of Bellevue took turns taking the kids sledding or having them over for movies. One night, I hosted every kid on the block. We feasted on homemade popcorn, leftover Halloween candy, and watched Home Alone under weighted blankets. Friends in the suburbs let urban families, in all our aromatic glory, take showers for the first time in days. It felt like a baptism. Friends texted water distribution times – community was everywhere.

Then there were the little flashes of Richmond grit and hilarity. Someone in the RVA thread on Reddit asked if they needed to boil their bong water. Answer: Yes. People blasted Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing. Others suggested we change our motto to “Virginia is for Stinkers.” Someone in the MapRVA survey wrote, “I can’t believe I shat outside.”

With most of the city shuttered, we cruised Midlothian Turnpike for authentic tacos, and with water scarce, we loaded up on coconut water and more interesting beverages.

Perhaps best of all is the renewed focus on long-standing infrastructure issues that have plagued our city. With the revenue lost from Richmond shutting down to children losing a week of school, we made headlines. Erin Brockovich tweeted about Richmond. The National Guard came in. There’s a federal investigation into corruption in an already scandal-ridden city government. 

Many are voicing that Stoney avoided the damning reports of our aging and crumbling water infrastructure from the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2022 report. He’s been accused of letting his political aspirations trump the city’s needs by avoiding the unpopular (translation: expensive) need to invest in our growing city’s basic needs. Many accuse him of focusing on flashier concepts, like a city stadium and the Diamond District. 

The governor vows to focus on the city’s infrastructure, with modernization and improvements. Apathy is a plague among us, it but feels as if the veil is finally lifting. People are waking up to the mismanagement of their taxes while they’ve been sleepwalking. 

This smelly little disaster was the swift kick our politicians needed. Gratitude-wise, I think I needed it too.