I have a memory that I cherish, think of oft times, and each time it reminds me of the person I want to become, and am hopefully becoming day by day. It happened about 11 years ago. My husband and I were begining a new phase in life, and had the exciting upcoming experience of buying a new home! As we did not have any money for a down payment, we had moved into my parents basement with our two beautiful, yet very young daughters. There wasn't anything fancy, no appartment style living, but simply a couple of bedrooms where we were welcome to stay.
We had spent most of our married life in married student housing, which, although perfect for our budget, was somewhat lacking in space for furniture. We owned a desk, our bed, an old table, and a crib. It was about all that fit, and more than enough for what we needed. Of course, when we moved into my parent's basement, we discovered even some of our sparse furniture would not fit, such as the boxspring to our bed. So at night, we would lay on our matteress on the floor with my two daughters in the room next door, and so our story begins.
As I lay in bed, fast asleep, Kimberly, my oldest (who we called KC at the time), wandered into our room saying something about water. My husband and I had spent the night talking, much later than we should, as was our habbit, and were both somewhat incoherant by the time our late night visitor arrived. I can not remember exactly what was said, but I am fairly sure (for there have been many such conversations over the year) that it progressed in a manner such as:
"Tommy dear, KC wants you"
"No, Nancy, she wants water, and you want me to get it"
"No, I think she wants you to get it. KC, tell daddy you want him to get you some water"
"Daddy, water?"
"See my love, I told you so"
"Ok [reluctantly begining to get up, and causing me emense guilt!]"
"No, Tommy, lay back down, I can get it"
"Are you sure dear".. ...
However, during this particular conversation KC kept inserting words such as splash, play, nothing that had to do with getting a drink, but being half asleep, I didn't dwell on it.
Eventually, I got up off our floor/materess/bed contraption, took a few steps and realized my feet were wet. Now, I am still half asleep, and wondering why, when suddenly I wake up completely, and find myself standing in water. Play? Splash? Suddenly my daughters words make perfect sense!
I yelled at Tommy, then dashed upstairs to my parents bedroom, where I am sure I gave them an instant heart attack as the words Emergency! Now! Need! came rushing out of my mouth.
As I returned down the stairs, with my parents in tow, we discovered that
1. A very large pipe had burst in the downstairs pantry.
2. Although I had very little furniture, I had placed it as strategically as possible, with the large cumbersome desk immediately in front of the water shut off valve.
We quickly (well, as quick as possible! It did take awhile to remember/figure out where the valve was) moved the desk, shut off the water main, and then spent the rest of the night bailing out the basement.
My parents entire pantry of food storage was soaked (did I mention the leak was in a pipe running through the basement ceiling?) There was plenty of damage, and plenty of worry about what would/wouldn't make it, how many hundreds of dollars worth of food was destroyed? What books could be ruined. Did it get into the computer that was on my bedroom floor? What about the mattress? Pictures?
But what I remember most was my dad's attitude. Now, my dad is the most dedicated, hard working man I have ever met. And although he was constantly working just as hard to get rid of the water to prevent further damage, not once did I see his smile disappear that night. I watched him splash with his granddaughter in between walking buckets of water out to be dumped. I watched him tell my other daughter, Leah who was only 1, to come "play in the water too" and lift her out of her crib to join in the merriment. I watched my girls giggle, laugh, and have a ball, not understanding that anything was sad or a disaster.
This was a situation that wasn't what anyone hoped for, that not much good would be observed, and yet, it somehow ended up a treasured family memory. We had fun! We did the work, at a time all of us would rather be in bed, and did it with smiles on our faces! We laughed and played for hours when we never expected to. And even now, so many years later, Kimberly says she remembers that night. I am not sure if she does, or has just heard the story so often that she thinks she does, but I don't know that it matters. She "saved" us from the flood, and got her own indoor pool. Not bad for a 2 year old!
Life throws stuff at us we don't want to see, we don't think we want to deal with, or sometimes we don't feel we are strong enough to withstand. But Heavenly Father will help us find joy, friendship, and love in every situation if we just let Him.
The purpose of life is not to hide from the storms, but to learn to dance in the rain, well, or water rushing out of a broken pipe!
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