Wednesday morning seemed just like any other morning until my husband stepped out onto our back patio and discovered water bubbling up into our back yard and between our bricks on the walkway. Oh boy!
Gary was able to cut the water off at the meter and line up a plumbing company. They came, did a lot of looking and some digging and some poking and some figuring. Then we did some questioning and some signing and some down payment paying…only to be told that they couldn’t get to the job until the following Tuesday. What?!
That’s a LONG time without water!
So, we did some calling and some discussing and some cancelling and some finding of new plumbers.
We also did some filling of large water containers that Gary wisely has had on hand for just such emergencies, turning on the water just long enough to get the job done.
The new plumbers came the next day and got right to work. They worked late, digging and examining in a trench that starts in our back yard, wraps around the side of our house, and ends near the street in our front yard.
There were bumps along the way, like damaging a sewer line that thankfully was an easy repair but meant no flushing all day Friday. TMI, I know, but I’m just being real. And it was getting real bad!
Location services had to come out more than once to correct mistakes they made in locating the cable and other lines. That’s comforting, right?
The workers were so nice and a pleasure to have around. They worked very late Friday night and were able to get our water back on! You can guess the first thing I did. Actually, it was the first three things I did…flush our three toilets!! And clean like a mad woman!
The plumbers were coming back on Saturday to hopefully finish the job, but heavy rains during the night and all day Saturday put a stop to that. Now the trench is full of water and the continuing rains leave us unsure of when the work will be completed.
But we have water!! And more importantly, Kansas has gotten some MUCH needed rain. We are not complaining!
As this all progressed, we were concerned about how Aaron would handle it. Having no water is a huge deal, and huge deals are often a no-deal to Aaron. He surprised us, though, with how well he did. He was intrigued with the digging and getting to see the pipes under the ground. The workers were so kind to him. They got a kick out of his excitement. The supervisor even saved the ruptured piece of pipe to show it to Aaron and explain what had happened.
But by Friday morning Aaron was close to being done with all the no water business. I knew we were near a boiling point with him when he told me that he was NOT letting me have any of his Halloween candy like he had promised the night before.
And to finalize his decision, he added: “I am NOT making a deal with you, MOM!!”
Imagine my surprise when later he walked in the room and laid this on the desk in front of me.
He chuckled and rubbed his hands together.
“We don’t need a deal,” he said.
“You want me to have this?” I asked.
“Yes!” he answered. “Eat it!”
He understood when I told him I would wait…that candy first thing in the morning is too much for me.
All this situation with having no water, though, has made me think about something that has been on my mind a lot since the horrible hurricane damage in the southeast. I have thought and thought about the impact of such terrible personal destruction on those with special needs.
How on earth are they surviving?
How are families handling the upheaval and its effects on their special family members whose whole world has been turned upside down, destroyed, and perhaps forever gone?
My friend in western North Carolina talked to me about her daughter who has autism, how she stepped up to the plate at the beginning and was so helpful at home and with neighbors. But as time went on it was getting harder and harder to handle the constant pressure and stress of routines being completely disrupted and of doing things not normal for her. Then come meltdowns and anger, which are terribly difficult for the family already dealing with more difficulties than imaginable.
I have wondered what Aaron would be like in a situation like this, where everything he knows and expects and demands is gone. I can’t even fathom it. A couple days without water and he was approaching the done point. Imagine everything being gone for weeks and weeks, forever even, and what that would do to him.
Imagine the untold number of families in these areas whose special children or other family members are enduring just that, a million times worse than our small inconvenience.
So many special needs individuals with so many needs that are special to them. Needs they can’t control but that must be met as much as possible.
How they need our prayers!
Let’s not forget them.
He Said What?! 