The Day my House Sprung a Leak and My Heart Learned a Lesson

A Funny Story:

I have written before about my home. We live in a home that is over 40 years old. And like me who is also (a little) over 40, it has started to require more and more maintenance to keep it from falling into the ground. There are projects that are half done, and projects we have put off. We have worked to modernize flooring, paint and furnishings. BUT sometimes the things you can’t see are the things that desperately need attention. Now to the story:

One recent spring afternoon, the weather was anything but spring-like. There was a cold northern gale, and the wind was blowing viciously. I was just thinking about having to pick my kids up from school when I heard a loud bang outside. I suddenly heard a lot of water coming from the tap. My husband heard it too, and realized that our basketball net had toppled over. So in shorts and sandals, as we Canadians like to wear regardless of the climate, he traipsed outdoors to set the net upright again. In doing so, he realized that the reason for it falling was that the base no longer had water in it. We figured the base was empty simply because we hadn’t refilled it in a couple of years and it just needed topping up.

Later, we discovered that cracks in the base were actually causing the leakage. Anyways, I went to the outdoor tap, grabbed the hose, put it in the opening, turned on the water and started to fill the base. As we were standing there I suddenly heard a lot of water coming from the tap. I turned to look, thinking that the hose must not have been screwed on tightly enough, when I saw water pouring down from multiple points of the overhang of our bi-level house as though we had installed a waterfall feature!

We quickly turned off the water, and as we pulled the soffit away, I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of trying to fix one leak only to discover another. It was like a plumbing version of whack-a-mole! We discovered that the pipe leading to the tap had expanded and burst! We were so glad we discovered this issue while we were right there, as the water had begun to back up and get into our basement. It was a crisis averted.

Meanwhile, our dogs were in the backyard, supposedly contained and plotting their next great escape. I opened the garage door to grab some tools needed to pull away the soffit, and a few minutes later, I saw them both casually strolling into the front yard looking pretty pleased with themselves for finding a back door opened that I didn’t know about. We thankfully retrieved them both very quickly.It was a cascade of unfortunate events that thankfully didn’t end up causing a major crisis. 

A Lesson

I’m sure many of you can relate to a story like this. But as I thought about this story, I thought about life. We meet people each day, who look like they have everything together. They always have clean clothes, their hair looks just so. They drive a nice car. Everything looks good. Or the opposite. Someone doesn’t fit what we consider “normal”. As an example I’m going to be vulnerable here and tell on myself. I was describing someone to a friend one time, and I described the person as looking “skinny and drugged out”. Turns out the poor person had been battling cancer! I felt so bad! I often try to remind my family not to judge people by their appearance and yet too often I am guilty of that very thing. 

We need to be so careful not to jump to conclusions about a person based on outward appearance. We need to show so much grace. Everyone has a different story. There are so many experiences a person may have that we know nothing about.

Although the human experience is very similar it is also very unique “Taking care of yourself takes the responsibility or pressure off your family to care for you.” Another more personal lesson to draw from this little story of mine: take care of yourself! Makeup and a shower won’t fix you. Don’t brush things aside or squash stuff down that might all explode on you later. Not addressing issues doesn’t make them go away. I often have put my needs aside so I don’t  rock the boat or because I think doing something for myself might seem selfish. But a wise person once told me, “Taking care of yourself takes the responsibility or pressure off your family to care for you.” Just like it’s a homeowner's responsibility to take care of their home, it’s your responsibility to take care of YOU!

And if you don’t take care of yourself, whether it’s mentally, physically, or spiritually, and if you ignore it or hope it goes away, it won’t. The damage will become greater and greater until the repair is a much harder task to address.

These are just some thoughts from my heart to yours. Lessons that I am learning as I experience more years of life. 

With love, Lisa