Grump

I had wanted to write a sweet and introspective post here. I was in a thoughtful mood on the drive home from work today, and had some ideas that I wanted to work through into words, and share, and put out for other people to give their ideas.

And then I got home, and realized just how bad the flooding in our basement was. umbran had said it was bad, but I don't think I had completely internalized the extent of it.

We have no hot water, because the flooding is deep enough that it's swamped the burner on our water heater. Which means I have a choice of cold shower, no shower, or showing up on a friend's doorstep at 6am tomorrow begging space to get ready for work. Our pump can't make any headway; it's working overtime just keeping in place.

And it looks like my comic books are probably destroyed. I had them up on pallets, since... well, we're in New England. Basements flood. But apparently that wasn't enough, given that the water is calf-deep on my giant of a husband, and now I'm looking at potentially losing the world's most valueless comic collection.

Dazzler. DP7. Marvel color reprints of Elfquest. Excalibur, which might actually be worth the paper it's printed on, which is more than I can say for the rest. A full run of New Mutants. All of them with absolutely no collector's value, all of them worth more than I can say to me. Gifts from friends, hand-me-downs, free handouts from the comic shop I hung out in while I was in high-school because they knew I couldn't really afford them on my own, links to the few bright spots in my adolescence.

I don't know for sure that they're gone - we had four boxes down there, only one of which was mine. Though the thought of my husband losing his precious books isn't any better, and I feel guilty even for thinking that. But... darn it, this is just crummy.

And that's not even thinking about what else was balanced up on pallets that is likely sodden beyond redemption now. My vet school notes, spare wedding invitations, old pictures, extra cloth.... boo.

It can stop raining any time now.

Silver Linings

There is one up side to this whole flooding and rain situation, and that is the reminder that umbran and I have some amazing friends.

Within minutes of mentioning the problem, we had multiple offers of crash space and shower space. People have come out of the woodwork with advice and offers of help and sympathy, and one friend went above and beyond the call of duty and delivered a spare pump to us, which is happily slurping away at the now-diminishing lake.

With luck, the basement will be dry enough by morning that we should be able to re-light the boiler and have hot water. And from there, we can start trying to salvage things and plan for the next round of 'Sprite and Umbran Versus Lake Hedgemazehaus.

Right now, though, I am basking in the knowledge that I have such kind, thoughtful, and caring friends, and the luck that brought me to such a place in my life. Thank you all, so much.....

Edited to add: it even looks like the comic books may have come out mostly unharmed. Lucky beyond belief....