Random notes, tidbits, I often scribble on the closest piece of paper or in Notes in my iPhone; the end pages of a book; a notepad sitting in a drawer; scraps of paper on my desktop. It is the unorganized way I have of cloistering the little details, events and impressions.
I find this short text written in the margins of a book; "Write the shared experience of our basement flood."
It's funny that I should find this note, in the days after another shared experience in our basement, while family was visiting.
But first, the basement flood. A young grandchild was using the basement bathroom. He flushed the toilet and whether he noticed or not, whether he was frightened or not, he left. Normal activity, except the toilet was overflowing. How long it was overflowing, I am unsure but it was enough to leave a few inches of water throughout the basement. The entire family was present so we formed a fire brigade upon discovery. Someone swept the inches of water out the basement door. Someone spread towels to absorb. Someone else, started pulling up carpet and floorboards. In a short time the water was gone, but the damage wasn't.
Weeks later, we had new flooring, floorboards and a fixed toilet.
This week in the same water closet, the culprit was the fan above the toilet. The person on the toilet couldn't smell the burning plastic, but everyone on the main floor could.
Imagine sitting on the toilet minding your own business, when family members run into the room and yell "Fire."
Family promptly found the fire extinguishers: they'd expired in 1985 and deemed worthless in squirting and squelching the fire in the fan. I was a helpless watcher. Finally someone took a big mug of water and tossed it upward. The fire was out.
We were safe. Shaken. I was immediately convinced the house had become too big for Tony and I to maintain. This passed shortly but soon after a different son-in-law discovered the deck was sagging and unsafe. We called a deck contractor to give us a bid: $185,000.
Fire, dangerous decks. Sticker shock. A phone call for another bid.
But in the meantime, some good has come from the bathroom fire in the fan. One daughter immediately ordered fire extinguishers for her own home. Tony followed suit. Amazon prime delivered them the next day. We were ready.
Son-in-law number four went to his office the next day and checked his workplace fire extinguishers. All of them had expired.
And perhaps it's time for you to check yours.
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