Water Troubles

I'm currently waiting for the plumber to come, yet again, to my home to fix another leaky pipe. I was thinking that, without all the leaky pipes/clogged pipes/water in the basement troubles I've had over the years, I would be living a very blessed, financially sound life.

I've probably spent more money on plumbing woes than any other issue I've ever had - and that includes the $5000 sewer pipe 8 feet underground in my front yard. I tell you, there is nothing like throwing that kind of money at something you will never ever see. It's not like I can invite people over and excitedly point out my beautiful new sewer pipe. Maybe instead of laying dirt over it, I should have had them cover it in glass. At least then I could see what I'm paying for.

But, I suppose it's better than having sewer water flood your basement. Yes, it is better than that.

So, last night, just as things seem to be getting on track, I'm downstairs washing the towels. I head over to the dryer to see if they are done and just happen to look up at the ceiling. Why do I do this?

Word of advice: If you are in your basement, just go down there, do your business, and don't look at anything. Keep your eyes on what you are doing. It does you no good to notice things in your basement.

So, I look up and I see this tiny droplet of water just hanging out on this very rusty pipe. Oh shit, I think. I then look down behind the dryer where the droplet was heading and see a nice sized water stain. That thing could have been dripping forever considering the size of the actual drip compared to the size of the stain it left on the floor. That means I could have gone even longer without noticing it and be sitting at the office right now feeling pretty good about things instead of waiting in my freezing cold house (I WILL NOT PUT THE HEAT ON YET!) for some dude to basically come here and rip me off since I know nothing about plumbing and it seems that is what they do.

Water seems to haunt me. From the leaky pipes to my wedding day. I tend to get flooded.

Back when I was about 10 or 11 years old, my dad and I lived in this shitty little one bedroom apartment in a duplex. We were on the upper level. He was out one night and I had a friend over. We were messing around in the bathroom trying on make-up or something. Who knows. My friend leaned on the very old sink basin that was just sort of a basin attached to the wall somehow with a pipe going into the wall.

It broke.

The sink came crashing from the wall and water started spewing everywhere. Our bathroom quickly became flooded with sink water.

Our landlord was the woman who lived below us. She was a crazy frightening lady. She came barreling into the bathroom yelling at us that "we're going to pay for this!". I imagine the water was completely flooding her room below us, too. But, come on, we were just kids. We weren't going to literally pay for anything. She left briefly. We were both sobbing, grabbing towels, trying desperately to soak it all up.

She returned with her camera and started taking pictures of us on our hands and knees on the wet floor, tears streaming from our faces, apologizing over and over again. Then she left.

It was in the days before cell phones, so all I could do was wait for my dad to come home. Needless to say, he was not pleased. But, if memory serves me correct, he understood it was an accident and I believe he gave our landlady a stern talking to for treating us that way.

I don't think we lived there much longer after that.

I also wonder what she did with those pictures. Does she still have them? Are they in some crazy lady photo album that she shows to all of her nursing home friends? I guess since that was 20 years ago, there's a good chance she's not around anymore.

I'm going to imagine she was some sort of witch-lady who, while screaming at us and snapping pictures, put a curse on me. A water curse. That water will haunt me forever.

Because, I mean really, another leaky pipe???