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cjlasky7In case you haven't noticed, things have not been going well here at the old homestead.
The latest: on Friday night, my son slipped in the bathroom and banged his head on either the tile floor or the edge of the bathtub. We couldn't quite get an accurate account of events because he couldn't remember falling or momentarily passing out. Naturally, we freaked--and so, barely three days after I left the hospital, our family was back in the ER.
My wife took him down to Methodist Hospital's pediatric ER, which was the smart move. Hospitals make my son very uncomfortable--he was practically looking for exits when he visited my room--so the pediatric ER was a little less intense than your standard, chaotic ER. He was in and out in a few hours. He has a minor concussion; no medication required and no strenuous activity for two weeks.
So with D. on concussion protocol and me on my blood thinner meds (and suffering from a winter cold, too!), my wife has declared herself the healthiest person in the house--which, if you know her various health problems, is a simultaneously hilarious and depressing declaration.
At least the cat is okay.
But if you want to pinpoint when this bad luck streak REALLY started, I guess you have to go back to the end of September, when Brooklyn got hit with eight inches of rain. In the 16+ years we've owned this house, we never had any problems with the basement. But this time, it was too much rain for the structure to hold. No, it wasn't a full-on flood, but there was enough water damage to bring up the unpleasant possibility of mold.
It took weeks to renovate the basement, to waterproof it, repaint it and get the furnishings back to my wife's exact specifications. The basement has always been my wife's refuge, her safe space when she's overloaded with stress. (She's a New York City schoolteacher. She has a lot of stress.) The water damage shattered her illusion of safety; and, to be honest, it shattered mine, too. Now, every time it rains, I check the walls of the basement...just to be sure.
(We also had water dripping down from the upstairs bathroom that's cracked the dining room ceiling. But, frankly, we're too exhausted to deal with that now.)
To sum up: both the house and its occupants are not in the best of health right now. But we will persevere! I'll try to keep you updated...
The latest: on Friday night, my son slipped in the bathroom and banged his head on either the tile floor or the edge of the bathtub. We couldn't quite get an accurate account of events because he couldn't remember falling or momentarily passing out. Naturally, we freaked--and so, barely three days after I left the hospital, our family was back in the ER.
My wife took him down to Methodist Hospital's pediatric ER, which was the smart move. Hospitals make my son very uncomfortable--he was practically looking for exits when he visited my room--so the pediatric ER was a little less intense than your standard, chaotic ER. He was in and out in a few hours. He has a minor concussion; no medication required and no strenuous activity for two weeks.
So with D. on concussion protocol and me on my blood thinner meds (and suffering from a winter cold, too!), my wife has declared herself the healthiest person in the house--which, if you know her various health problems, is a simultaneously hilarious and depressing declaration.
At least the cat is okay.
But if you want to pinpoint when this bad luck streak REALLY started, I guess you have to go back to the end of September, when Brooklyn got hit with eight inches of rain. In the 16+ years we've owned this house, we never had any problems with the basement. But this time, it was too much rain for the structure to hold. No, it wasn't a full-on flood, but there was enough water damage to bring up the unpleasant possibility of mold.
It took weeks to renovate the basement, to waterproof it, repaint it and get the furnishings back to my wife's exact specifications. The basement has always been my wife's refuge, her safe space when she's overloaded with stress. (She's a New York City schoolteacher. She has a lot of stress.) The water damage shattered her illusion of safety; and, to be honest, it shattered mine, too. Now, every time it rains, I check the walls of the basement...just to be sure.
(We also had water dripping down from the upstairs bathroom that's cracked the dining room ceiling. But, frankly, we're too exhausted to deal with that now.)
To sum up: both the house and its occupants are not in the best of health right now. But we will persevere! I'll try to keep you updated...
no subject
Date: 2024-01-15 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-15 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-15 06:00 am (UTC)You're sure ? Has it been keeping up with it's regular psychotherapy sessions ? Just sayin', maybe it's not telling you everything.
A favorite, rather evocative line comes to me here, from an old tune by Shawn Colvin: I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche
Ah, the joys of homeownership. It bums me out at times, too. Nevertheless, every few years when I have to spend some respectable amount (like last year, $2200 for roof repairs), I remind myself that since a new house would be at least $150,000 to get what would pretty much be the same as what I live in now, except maybe in a wee bit better overall repair, I think... wow, am I lucky. (BTW, 45+ years ago when I bought the place, it sold for $26,900.)
Hey, I could always rent, right? That'd be only maybe $1200 a month, and my social security is a big ol' $1700 a month, so... oh, uhmm, wait...
That's just here in (mostly national average priced) Lancaster. I shudder to think what NYC and environs might be.
I will avoid getting into a lengthy diatribe right now about the real estate industry and their... yeah.
Anyway, extremely humble and a mite run-down-y my domicile may be, I still thank it every so often for keeping me warm and dry and with music to listen to 99.9% of the time.
Glad to hear your son is OK. Your wife is an NYC school teacher? Yikes! Stress, indeed! My good thoughts go out to him and her.
And of course to you too, yet again, get well soon. By all means, keep up the updates.
Take care, you and yours.
-- CJ
no subject
Date: 2024-01-15 02:58 pm (UTC)***************
If I recorded everything stressful about my wife's adventures in the NYC school system, I'd be updating this blog on an hourly basis.
****************
If you're middle class, it's almost impossible to own a home in Brooklyn, and NYC in general. (Sorry--rents are outrageous too.) My wife and I were lucky to find a house when the market was in a relative downturn, and we refinanced when interest rates were at rock bottom.
So I might complain about repair costs, but the sense of security I get from owning a house (especially where I am) trumps all of those anxieties. (We're not that far away from paying it off. I think the mortgage burning ceremony will be freaking EPIC.)