When Life Feels Like Riding an Avalanche
Tumbling headlong amid the whims of Fate
We’ve all heard the old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” So what’s the appropriate saying when life gives you a big steaming pile of sh*t… over and over? The only thing I can think of is, “It could be worse.”
And it could be… worse. (My mother-in-law and brother-in-law are both living with Stage 4 cancer.) At least everyone in our household has good health.
About twenty years ago we replaced the old clay tile sewer line in our yard all the way out to the street because it became clogged with tree roots every year, and needed to be cleaned out. We thought this was the end of it. And it was — for twenty years.
Several weeks ago our home’s drain line became clogged. Our toilets wouldn’t flush; the sinks wouldn’t drain; we couldn’t wash clothes — nothing. I called the plumber to fix it. He discovered that the clog was not on our property but under the street in front of our house. He cleared out the clog — for $400. He said it was only a matter of time before it clogged again. Tree roots were getting into the city’s fifty year old clay tile.
I called my town’s water department manager. He came out, and the plumber explained to him what was going on. The water manager proceeded to explain that this pipe, the “lower lateral,’ was installed by the city on the city’s property, yet its maintenance is the responsibility of the homeowner, namely ME, but the city won’t allow us to dig up the road to replace the pipe.
I have since found out that this is very common, not just in tiny rural towns like mine. Many larger cities have the same policy. And homeowners have no idea until something like my situation happens and they end up spending thousands of dollars to fix the problem.
In our case, the plumbers did what is called a trenchless repair. They dig a small-ish hole and go in from the side of the roadway. They filled the old pipe with epoxy and pushed it outward with a balloon. The epoxy hardens and effectively creates a new plastic pipe. This cost us $6000.
Another pile of poo that Fate threw at us was on our way home from our anniversary trip. We were driving home and my car broke down on the interstate. We were only about fifty miles from home. We called our Roadside Assistance service through our auto insurance. They told us it would be two hours until the tow truck would arrive. I almost forgot to mention that it was 85 degrees, 90 percent humidity, and no shade in sight. I then called 911. They sent two Traffic Safety Officers from Lexington, Kentucky Police Department. The one officer we talked to was awesome. He let us sit in his air-conditioned car, gave us bottled water to drink, and called the tow truck company and had them on site in 25 minutes. What a sweetheart!
We had my car towed to a dealership that is about 35 miles from our house. They called the next day and told me the big belt that runs everything (the serpentine belt) had broken, and the thing that holds the belt in place (the belt tensioner) had broken. There were also a couple of other minor issues. All together it cost me $1100 to get it fixed.
I won’t get into the story of us buying my car in 2020 for $8500, then a pickup truck in 2021 for $9000. I’m not even going to get into the story about my husband’s commuter car dying a couple of months ago, and us spending $4500 on another one. Or us spending $9500 to help our daughter buy a house trailer that her fiancé promised to pay back, then when she was still home on maternity leave after having a C-section she found out he had a side chick and kicked him out. She and her four-year-old and three-month-old are staying with us until her new apartment is ready. She is moving back to our town to be closer to family. So we are waiting until she gets moved and sells the trailer to get the remaining $6200 that is still owed to us.
But yes, it could be worse. We could have had to take out loans for all those expenses. But we didn’t. We have been bleeding money for the last two years, but we still have some savings left. We are not in debt. Our house is almost paid off. Yes. It could be much worse.
Thanks for reading this far. If you have found it interesting, you might consider buying me a coffee to help me in my writing journey.
Until next time — look on the bright side, it could be worse.
