My Roof's Got A Hole In It

“My Roof’s Got A Hole In It!

And I might Drown!” These lyrics from a catchy old song called “The Crooked Little Man”, by the Serendipity Singers, were running through my head this morning.  Fortunately, I don’t think we’ll actually drown.  The hole I’m looking at is not in our roof, but in our living room ceiling, and it was self-induced!  It wasn’t a case of just being curious about what was under that neat white painted surface – it was done to discover what was causing the curious star shaped bulge that formed in it and then started to spit drops at us.  I thought perhaps the house was into entertaining us with a balancing act: now that we had the ‘roots in the drain’ problem temporarily solved – it called out: “Oh dear, sorry about this, I held out as long as I could, but look up!”  It seems like, once it let go, it decided to let it all hang out – “You might want to check the ceiling in your bedroom – whoops!”

  I’m now looking out at our newly-built, tightly sealed garage, and wondering where I might fit a bed!   Actually, the news is not all bad – In the process of having to re-surface the offending flat roof on one side of the house, we will go for the full renovation that we were planning to do down the road - including new flooring!  So much for our budget for the foreseeable future.   In trying to be positive, I keep thinking that we’re lucky to have a pretty nice home, despite its problems: It’s been keeping us snug and warm and deserves to be treated to a few treats – like ceilings and plumbing and drains and weather stripping and airtight windows, and…….sorry about that.  My mom would probably have taken  these problems in stride, with her large store of patience - She raised seven children in a very tiny renovated cottage on the banks of the Rideau.  When I come to think of it, I believe that the above song was a favourite at our family sing-a-longs!  And I was oblivious to the fact that, for my mom and dad, it might have been hitting a little too close to home.  Music was and is a great healer – it helps to patch the holes in our roofs.

‘Wait Training 101’

My little poem “Wait Training” came into my head yesterday, as we signed up for the ultimate ‘wait training’ course in the Brockville General Hospital Emergency room.  After checking in, and my husband being assessed by the nurse, we joined the line for the free course that was running – and filling up quickly – in the waiting area.  It’s an interesting concept – learning how to build up our ‘wait’ muscles.  Of course, not realizing how intensive and time consuming the course would be, I neglected to bring along adequate equipment – in the form of a good book.  It turns out that had I brought along ‘War And Peace’, I could have finished it and done a short presentation for everyone!  I instead had to find alternatives to sinking within myself, or a book:  I quietly observed the real problems that the other participants were enduring.  Some seemed to have a handle on their ‘wait training’ and sat very patiently; others were not doing so well.  Bit by bit, conversations began, stories were shared, common threads were woven, and in between, I offered silent prayers for all of the good people around me who were sidelined by various crises.  A mother coping with a possible dislocated bone in her shoulder was actually keeping everyone, including her two children, entertained by her interactions with them.  Others with broken bodies were making the best of their situations and trying to help her out – the Christmas Spirit was still making itself felt, even as the staff were removing the decorations from the room.  At the end of the course, when my husband had been seen and a solution prescribed for his bronchitis, we left the ‘training room’.   I returned a few minutes later with a copy of my “How To Wash A Puddle” book for that lovely mother and her two patient children.  I wish her the best of luck – she passed the course with flying colours!