when my pocket rang, sang and vibrated...

... there were at least half a dozen missed calls in my pants on Thursday. I had to wonder what sort of crisis had occurred on the home front to make The Man Who Lives Here so desperate to contact me. It was the water heater/flood/parting of the Red Sea.  He wanted me to get as frantic as he was about dealing with the huge puddle in the workshop. I was fortunately miles removed from the situation, so not feeling the sense of urgency that was weighing so heavily on The Man Who Lives here and loves to fret.

He was calling to insist I should make a bee-line for the big box store and purchase a wet-dry vacuum to get the water up off the floor. I did not fully grasp the magnitude of the problem that he was actually, literally, really sitting in (though he was not getting wet and cranky as he was sitting in a chair.) Told him it would be hours before I could get the vacuum and get home to join in the predicament. Optimistically assuming he would be solving the problem before I could participate.

Upon my arrival, and looking in at all the water, I began cursing and moving things to get them out of standing water... a great big mess. And then discovered that the plumber who had been stomping around in the indoor pond for some time had a utility vac. on his truck and was prepared to suck up all the water before leaving. So we actually only spent about $1000 for a brand new, fully installed,  modern forty gallon water heater, and did not also purchase a utility vacuum. Thank you Very Much.

All that stuff that I dragged out of the inland sea and deposited on the back porch is still sitting right there. Ready for me to haul back into storage. Making me think: why? If it has been in there in the dark with the bugs and rodents for company all this time, what would be the purpose of putting in back?  Obviously have too much stuff in my life. Do not seem to have any problem at all with donating un-used clothing to the thrift store, so don't know why I am struggling with other messss...

I just looked up synonyms/words to use as a replacement for crisis and amused to discover one of the closely related words that could be used is 'hot water'. Which I find hilarious since the whole watery mess started with a self-evacuating hot water heater. Along with 'predicament' and 'emergency' - all of which are apt for the now resolved crisis.