Kneeling before the porcelain god

This morning, the plumber came to fix the kids' bathtub, which, for several days, has refused to drain. (Tootie claims that E-man allowed the lid to his Aveeno body wash to go down the drain, but who knows what really happened. "E-man did it" is the most oft-uttered refrain in our home.)

Our house was built in 1955. The bathroom totally represents that year, boasting a pink octagonally tiled floor, salmon and maroon wall tiles, etc...

And, apparently, the original toilet, which promptly sent the plumber into raptures.

"Wow," he said on entering the Pink Bathroom. "Look at that toilet."

He dropped, almost reverently, to his knees and inspected it more closely.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing at the tank cover.

"Oh, sure," I said.

"A Standard," the plumber murmured as he peered into the tank.

He turned to me. "Do you know what year this is from?"

"Umm... no," I said.

"1951," he told me. "This is your home's original toilet."

Now if Hubs had been present, he would have offered the plumber coffee and they would have sat cross-legged together on the bathroom floor, rhapsodizing about the beauty of old things.

But this poor guy was stuck with me, the woman who, according to her packrat husband, really has it in for "old stuff."

(In my defense, I like old things that are functional. And attractive. It's just that most of Hubs' old things don't happen to fit either description.)

As far as the toilet goes, well, it's never done me wrong. And I've always thought it was kind of cute, in a retro sort of way. I mean, it certainly fits the theme of the bathroom.

But this guy was really ooohing and ahhhing over our potty. He looked at the base of the toilet and I swear, his eyes misted over when he saw the knobby little caps that cover four screws. "Wow, you still have these," he said longingly. "I used to collect these, but my wife made me get rid of them."

He also was impressed by some thingy in the tank, which also happens to be an original — and now, rare — part.

... And all I'm thinking is, "Well, hell, how much is it going to cost us if this 'original' thingy breaks?" (Answer: At least $200-$300)

I won't bore you with the carrying-on that followed when he started examining the sink, but apparently it's pretty old too.

Hubs called shortly thereafter, and I informed him that not only is our bathtub fixed, we also are the proud owners of a really cool toilet.

And I told him how the plumber used to collect the little knobby caps located at the bottom of the potty, and there was a long pause ...

... which kind of makes me wonder if there's another collection in our shed that I don't know about.