Christmas 2022 was the first Christmas, in 27 years, that I didn’t have children. Ooof!
It was different, to say the least. I tried my best to stay busy. On Christmas Eve, I went to my parent’s house, but there were just a few of us. As children grow older, they have other plans. I get it.
On Christmas morning, I had brunch with a good friend and their family. Waking up, getting ready, and leaving the house definitely took my mind off the kiddos. The food was awesome, too! From there, I went to straight to my parent’s again. After a couple of hours, I was getting ready to head home when my ring doorbell activated twice. I checked the app and I noticed two guys at my door. When I answered, they told me that I must have a leak because water was gushing out of my garage. As I ran out the door, I asked my dad to follow me.
I pulled down my street and noticed the waterfall flowing from my garage door. I quickly hit the automatic door opener. As water swooshed onto my driveway, I jumped out of my Jeep and ran to my house. All I could think about was getting the water turned off. Since I was preoccupied with finding the shut off valve, I didn’t notice the ice. Yes, ice. All of the water outside my garage had turned to ice. So, I did what I do best and busted my butt. I can honestly say that I didn’t feel it at the time. Much later I noticed the huge bruises to my right elbow and left knee.
I needed to get the water shut off and remembered my plumber showing me a valve above the water heater. I ran to it and twisted, but there was so much water coming out of my garage ceiling. To say that I was panicking would be an understatement. Thankfully, my dad pulled up and showed me the emergency shut off valve at the road. There was still so much water. Where was it coming from?
As I went through the house, I noticed that the living room, foyer, kitchen, and my bedroom all looked fine. I opened the door to the bonus room and almost vomited. The stairs were soaked and water was raining from the ceiling. This didn’t make sense. Due to two leaks not long after I moved in, I had all of plumbing replaced summer 2021. Surely it couldn’t be a leak in the new pipes? Wait, there should be no plumbing above the bonus room, should there? No, there couldn’t be. Upon closer inspection, I noticed water coming through the fire sprinkler head on the ceiling. OMGoodness! It was a busted fire sprinkler pipe!!
The weather around here had been well below freezing for 3-4 days. My dad and I went into the attic looking for the issue. We found the problem and realized that the sprinkler pipes only had a piece of insulation thrown over them. GRRR! No wonder they froze! Sadly, I found out that at least 5 or 6 other homes in my neighborhood had the same disaster. One good thing we discovered was that I do have a shut off valve. We were able to turn the fire sprinkler system off and turn the water back on to my house. Small victories!!
Millions of things were going through my mind as I walked through my home. I cried. It was devastating to see the mess. Realizing that there is no one to fix it. It’s just me. I’m the grown up. No knight in shining armor is going to come riding in on a white stallion to save me. No Handy Manny is going to drive up and save the day.
While it does suck being single sometimes, I am very thankful to have my family, friends, and great neighbors to pitch in and help when they can. Not everyone is that fortunate, I know. Through the storm, I still know that I am blessed.
