At first, it was fun, but it’s been about seven weeks and I feel like an emotional roller coaster.
Our home flooded on March 17th. The water pipe just above my mom’s room bursted and it leaked through her room, to the kids, through the second floor and onto the downstairs kitchen and garage area. My son and I were in the garage when it happened. I was doing my daily treadmill walk and big boy was eatting lunch while watching t.v. Suddenly, I hear this huge loud sound as if a bunch of people were stomping on the top of our roof.
My son said that he hears that all the time, but it was sooo loud, so I went upstairs and all I saw was a rainfall inside our house. I call my daughter, grab my baby, and yell for the boys to go outside! Our new neighbors, who I didn’t even know – yet, introduce myself saw me running in and out. I hand them over my baby girl and tell them to please watch her real quick. I don’t even remember how they looked like.
I ran back into the house and grabbed my dogs and the newborn two week old yorkie puppies that were just born. It was a mess. It was within five minutes that the water from above went through the kitchen ceiling that the floors started to flood up to almost two inches.
I call my dad and my mom and told them that the house is flooded. In the meanwhile, the men from our new neighbors house comes right over and offers help. They find the water valve and shuts it off. I was so relieved, but I look at the mess and there was water everywhere! The first thought that came through me head afterwards was, “I’m in trouble!”
Now that things were calm, I realized that I brought the dogs out, but I didn’t leash them, so guess who went running after the dogs? My 12 year old son. It was crazy! When they came back, we put them in their crates until we could figure out what to do. Finally, I turned around and there was my new neighbors just staring at me with amusement… they saw the newborn puppies, they saw my dogs, and they saw how many kids I had. I think they were just in disbelief of what was going on, since it was practically their first day into their new home. So already, they have an idea of how crazy our family is and what a full house we have.
My baby girl was not crying though. She looked so comfortable as if she knew them forever. It turned out that the family is the same dialect and from the same province my family is from in the Philippines. As soon as I heard them speak kapangpangan, I responded back, so that they know I understand. They were so kind. I totally miss the Manla Family that once lived there, but it was also comforting that God placed this family into my life as well.
My parents finally get home and they see the mess that the water made. Yes, the water, but still my dad was like, “Michelle? Why didn’t you turn off the water valve? I showed you where it was!” Ugh! He probably did and I just didn’t pay too close attention. “I don’t know,” I said.
So, we clean up, and we call the insurance company and slowly but surely throughout the day, we cleaned and tidied things up. We even rented a rug doctor to suck up and dry up all the yuckiness. By the next day, the house stank! And you know what else? The ceiling upstairs FALLS! Falls!? Seriously, my mom and baby girl were home by themselves while I was out and about picking up and during errands with the kids after school.
It was a big mess. It looked as if there were termites in our house and turned everything into mulch. We had to call the insurance company again and by evening time, they sent a team to review how bad the water damage was. It was bad.
aheartsbeginning 