Feb. 3, 2025  

Just when you think everything is going well …

Most of you, my blog readers, know that I’m a migratory creature. Retirement and working from “home” can be done anywhere. When we leave our main home in the north, we take the usual precautions: turning the heat down but not off, turning the hot water heater down but not off, leaving the cupboard doors for under the sinks open for good air circulation, leaving the sink faucets dripping at 1 drop per second, and finally having good neighbors you trust with an emergency key.

So, I get this call from the local water company a few weeks ago—the meter reader saw that our meter was running nuts. He turned off the main valve. The person on the phone said she thought we might have a burst pipe! I texted my neighbor who got the key and went to check when she got home from work to find … DISASTER!

The pipe leading to the upstairs toilet (Could there possibly be a worse place? I don’t think so.) had burst—maybe a week before? Who knows. All the upstairs hardwood floors were warped, water had created a lovely waterfall down the stairs, seeped through the floors and saturated the ceilings downstairs—the dining room and living room ceilings had already fallen in and water was dripping from the kitchen ceiling … I think you get the picture.

Fortunately, we have USAA insurance, courtesy of my father’s service in WWII, and they took over immediately. Within 3 days, my husband had flown home, met with a plumber, the great folks at ServePro, and the field agent. Water mitigation had begun, and ServePro put a lock box on the front door so they and later the contractor can come and go. The entire house must be gutted and rebuilt.

We have the tedious job of putting a value on everything that was soaked and ruined. We’ve used Etsy, E-Bay, Walmart.com, Wayfair, and other sites to find things similar to what we had, even some antiques that had been passed down through my family—even down to every spice and herb in my kitchen. My youngest daughter, with whom we stay while south for the winter, is fine with us staying for quite a while longer. We can choose paint colors, flooring materials, etc. with our contractor by zoom or online with choices shown us that are within what our insurance budget is. We will, in time, have a nice “new” house and have fun shopping for new furniture, etc.

But there are a few things I’m sad about. One is the solid maple twin bed in one room that was my childhood bed. I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday the day it was assembled and made up with new sheets, blankets, and a comforter because I was past three years old and I was finally getting out of that crib! I had my own “big girl” bed. That bed went from my childhood home to my parents’ retirement home, to our house after my mother passed away, and then to our retirement home. Now its warped and wager-stained wood is in a landfill, along with a piece of my heart. But God is good—my antique clock that my grandparents bought in the 1930s which dates back to the 1830s was not damaged.