I’m a firm believer in silver linings. Good coming out of bad, karma. Whatever cliché you want to use, if you look hard enough there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Sometimes getting through the cloud can be a challenge though. One morning this week I woke to the sound of gushing water, not a restful trickle but a full blown gush. Disoriented, I stumbled out of bed, turned on the light and checked the toilet. No water running there but the sound was coming from the wall. I checked the closet which has a shared wall with the bathroom. The carpet was soaked and the bottom of the wall looked like it was going to cave in. I ran outside with a flashlight and the plumbing thingy and managed to get the water to the house turned off.
That wasn’t the only problem I’ve had recently. My son called me at work one day, which is an event in itself, and said “they’re digging up our driveway.”
“Who?” I asked.
“The government,” he replied.
“The FBI?” I asked.
I covered the mouthpiece and told my co-worker.
“I always thought it would a good idea to bury my ex-husband under the driveway,” she responded. “That way I could drive over him every single day.”
While she was pondering her ex-husband’s demise, I turned back to the phone.
“Not the government, the city,” my son said.
My next question was “Why?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Something to do with the water. I’ve got to go to work” and he hung up.
I called the city and found out it may have been the gas company but she wasn’t sure either.
When I left work several hours later I imagined a pile of rubble replacing the already chipped and cracked driveway. All along the street there were holes with barricades and several driveways had areas that were dug up. When I got to my house, the chipped and cracked driveway had been replaced by perfectly smooth concrete over a third of the driveway. One home project I could cross off my list.
And the plumbing? Well it was only a 12” square of wall that was wet in the closet, which the plumber removed, replaced the rusty pipe elbow and it was good as new. My neighbor came over with a fan to dry out the carpet and while waiting for the plumber to finish, we drank tea and talked about the Caribbean cruise we went on last year with some friends. And the silver lining? We’re planning another cruise.
