I had some great plans this week, especially for today. I was going to have lunch with an old and dear friend I hadn’t seen she moved to Toledo more than 2 years ago. After that I was going to put fingers to keyboard and craft a significant addition to this blog. When that was finished I intended to just blob since I’d just spent two days spit shinning my home. But, so much for plans; at least for my plans at any rate. I found it necessary to resort to repeated reminders of Proverbs 3:6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” It all happened this way.
At roughly 2:30 yesterday morning all was well. A trip to the little girls room and I was soon sleeping soundly once more. 7:00 A.M. and my usual internal alarm signaled that 8 hours was enough sleep. It seemed to be raining and I lay there a bit thinking how pleasant it was to awaken to the sound of rain outside my window.
I would like to say that then I jumped out of bed, but “jumped” would be a bit of a stretch so let’s just say that I “got” out of bed and headed for the little girls room. The clear sky outside my bedroom window should have alerted me at that point. But, no it took soaking wet carpet to get my full attention. So much for my plans; it wasn’t rain after all. The supply line to the toilet had broken.
All else was forgotten. I shut the valve off, grabbed some clothes and dashed down the stairs headed for the storage shed to retrieve my wet-dry vac. Now it was raining for sure. Water was pouring from the recessed light fixture in the kitchen, the cabinets over the range and dishwasher were dripping profusely, the fixture globe in the laundry was full of water and a full third of the downstairs was awash. I placed a panicked call to the leasing agent and then began the process of soaking up the upstairs water and intermittently trying several times to contact the leasing agent. When she did answer she seemed not the least bit alarmed and told me a plumber would be there directly. I told her she was going to need more than a plumber. Now she seemed perturbed. Was it my fault that the owner just had to pump a couple of thousand into a major termite treatment? She seemed to think so.
I finally managed to get the worst of the water mopped up off the tile floors, downstairs and upstairs and began hauling stuff out to the patio in preparation for the clean-up crew I expected shortly. Then I had one of those ideas which should have been thought out a little better. I felt it was a good time to send the agent a text asking how many months free rent I would get as a result. Her response was less than polite. She actually suggested that it was my fault. The nerve! I thought my reply was most appropriate. I haven’t heard anything since except a text inquiring about the whereabouts of the broken parts. I suggested she check with the plumber. That’s when the second little disaster occurred.
When I bent down to place something on the concrete patio pad my phone popped out of my pocket and came apart when it hit the concrete. Just peachy! Just what I needed today. I picked up the pieces and put it back together so I could resume normal communications … Not! After the cleanup guys got their blowers etc. going I headed for at&t. (yes I meant to make it all lower case letters. It expresses my opinion exactly) There, I was informed that I had no insurance on the phone (thought for sure I did) and that a new one would run me $170. Would they at least attempt to repair it? Nope! Would some dainty damsel in disrtess tears help! Nope! They gave me a card for a company with the hopeful sounding name of “YOUBREAKIFIX.com”. Really? On the bright side they will check it out free of charge and tell you if they can fix it. So what have I got to lose, right? I’ll find out next Tuesday.
So much for Thursday; on to Friday … I actually was able to sleep some in spite of the gale like noises coming from the dryer 10 feet from my bed. (earplugs must have worked). Almost immediately, upon removing the earplugs I hear “rain”. I was in the grip of terror at the thought of what next. But this time it was actually real, falling from the clouds … rain. And, all that stuff I’d left on the patio was just like the carpet in the house.
Phone chirps! My friend who was going to cheer me up over lunch and help me forget all my woes was sick in bed and unable to make it. Now wasn’t that just a hunky dory end to a less than spiffy week.
So I ask Abba, “Did I do something to rub you the wrong way?” Is my new name “Job-alina”? The silence was deafening so I read Proverbs 3:6 once more.
You were expecting a moving and inspirational blog message today were you? And of course you don’t think this quite measures up. Next week! Nowhere to go but up, folks. Nowhere to go but up!