Water
I have water in my basement. It started about a month ago with some dampness in the corner of my “Yellow Room.” It’s sort of like my attic. It’s a junk room. It looks somewhat similar to my office, actually. Anyway, there was some moisture in the corner, so I got the dehumidifier from the garage and it dried it out. Then last week, we finally got rain. Well, my little dehumidifier couldn’t keep up anymore. The carpet is sopping wet. The furniture and other things have been moved to dry ground. I’ve contracted with someone to put in a pipe and sump pump. I’ve cut away the wet carpet and padding so it doesn’t spread any more. I still need to get that soaking wet carpet and pad out of there. And now I have to move more furniture and other things to get ready for the work that needs to be done. Bel and I are sleeping upstairs for now since our rooms are in the basement and it’s starting to smell a bit musty down there. Not to mention the fact that my room is full of stuff from the yellow room and now I need to move my bed and a dresser and a shelf so that the pipe can extend into that room. It’s a pain.
I have water in an area about four feet square. It isn’t deep. And it’s disrupting my life. I can’t even imagine what the people who were flooded out in last month’s hurricanes are going through. The people in Puerto Rico who not only lost their homes, but are trying to recover without the things we consider basic – electricity, phone service, drinking water.
The storm damage has left the news cycle, but it is still there. We’re distracted by things like the talks between the NFL and its players about social activism. But the people who lost their homes are still trying to recover. I don’t know if they really care about whether or not someone stands or kneels. We need to remember them and not be distracted. Our prayers are important, but even more important is our continued financial support. The United Methodist Committee on Relief does fantastic work in the aftermath of disasters. They are there – in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico – and they will be there until the last family is back in a home, back to normal. If you haven’t made a contribution, it’s not too late. You can do so online directly to UMCOR, or through Wright’s Chapel. We sent flood buckets last month and they are being put to good use. But after the cleanup comes the rebuilding. And that takes a long time, especially with so many people affected.
So I am waiting for the contractor to get the proper permits and start the work. I’m waiting to be able to put things back where they belong and sleep in my bed again. But when I get annoyed about it, I will try to remember that it is about 4 square feet of wetness and not six feet of water through my entire house. I lost one Ikea corner shelf. Not everything I own. And as I pay the bill for the repairs, I think I will also make another contribution to UMCOR for those people whose repairs will be so much more expensive and take so much longer.
