Houston, We Have A Problem (Part 1)

     This is a two-part blog.  The events that will be told before you lead up to another set of events the week after.  Since it is two different events I will keep them seperated in my blog but have the next blog be a continuation from this blog.

     One thing about being a trucker's wife is that you learn how to be independent.  The husband is out on the road for weeks at a time with usually an unknown date on his return.  He is working hard on the road with different hours and different weather with idoit drivers.  It is not an easy life and and only certain people can live in that lifestyle.  The wife tends to the home and children and and everything in between.  It is not easy for wife either.  Again, only certain types of people can live in that lifestyle. 

     My husband is very handy with everything.  I don't think there is anything he cannot do.  If there is something he is unsure of he fakes it well and still does the task right.  When he is home he fixes the things that need fixing or tinkers with other things around the house.  He likes to stay busy.  

     I, on the other hand, is the baby of the family and I was pampered.  Everything was hired out that needed to be done around the house.  My dad left the state, my mom was losing her vision and her parents (my grandparents) passed away when we were young.  Looking back things around the house had to be hired out because no one was there to fix it for us, whether it was painting our walls,  putting in a new dishwasher or moving across the state of Michigan.  We depended on others for most of the "honey-do" list.  I never set foot in a hardware store until I met my husband.  And the old joke of a car needing "blinker fluid"?  Yea, I fell for it.  So it was very hard when my husband would go on the road and something unexpected would happen.  Many times he would try to talk me through things and try his hardest to figure out what I am talking about because I didn't know the correct terminology for certain parts or pieces of what was happening.  A quick example:  Just recently I had to replace a broken pipe.  I told my husband I had to get a plastic piece thing to connect the two pipes.   He told me that it is called a "union".  Then when I went to the hardward I was able to tell the guy I needed a union instead of a plastic connector thingy.   I have learned a lot in our marriage and at times impress myself.  I am still learning a lot of things too.

     The year was 2003.  It was late January and if I remember correctly it was an average winter.  We had snow on the ground and it was cold but not overly cold.  Christian was in kindergarten and I had our daughters Elizabeth and Ashton along with our almost 5 month old son James at home.  We owned our own semi-truck and Brian was over in Wisconsin making deliveries and pick-ups.  Everything were going pretty much normal.  Until I went to give the girls a bath. 

     It was mid-morning.  I turned on the water and checked the temperature and flipped the switch to plug the tub.  I reached to turn off the tub.  I turned one knob to the off position but the water kept coming.  Confused, I reach up and grab the other knob and turned that one to the off position.  The water still kept coming full force.  I grabbed both knobs and twisted them back and forth and the water would not shut off.   NOOOOO!  I thought to myself.  I have dealt with water freezing up in pipes but not water that does not want to stop coming out of the faucet.  I didn't get it.  I flipped the switch back so the water can drain out.  Then I called Brian. 

     He sounded as confused as I did as to why the water wasn't stopping.  "See the panel next to the tub?"  he asks. 

     "Yes."  I replied back.

     "Pull it off and there should be a twist valve that looks like the outside faucet.  Turn it the opposite direction to shut the water off."

     I pull off the vented metal panel.  It was a small little cubby space that showed the pipes to the tub.  There was also an old wooden potty chair with a picture of a bear painted on the back of the seat and wooden arm rests. I wonder how long that has been there, I thought.  I returned my attention to the pipes and looked around.  "There isn't a valve in here."  I tell Brian over the phone.

     "There has to be.  Are you sure you are looking in the right spot?  Look up and down the pipes.  It has got to be there." 

     I look all over the pipes.  "I'm sorry, hun, but there isn't a valve anywhere back here."

     Brian gave a frustrated sigh trying to figure this out being across on the other side of Lake Michigan.  After a brief moment of thinking Brian says, "Go to the back room, open the door to the cellar and there should be a valve on one of the pipes down there.  Let me know when you find it and call me back." 

     I walk to our back room and look at the U-shaped cord on the floor.  The wooden gray door that led to the cellar was on the floor to our back room.  When opening it you had to give the door a hard push to swing it up and over the opening it revealed in the floor.  If you leaned too far forward you had a chance of falling in.  Cobwebs usually lined the bottom side of the heavy door which seperated from the ceiling wall from the cellar.  No doubt it was creepy.  I grabbed our outdoor broom and quickly swept around the entrance of the cellar and the first few steps.  I used the broom like an expert swordsman swatting away all the webs I could find.  I didn't want to look too deeply into the webs for fear of finding a spider.  I knew if I were to spy a spider I would of hightailed it out of there in lightning speed. 

     The height of the cellar is about 5 feet.  It was narrow and small.  Three people could probably fit in there but that would be about it.  I hunch over making sure my head would not come in contact with the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and looked around.  I seen the silver metal pipes but I wasn't seeing a valve.  The phone rung.  It was Brian.  "Are you down there yet?"

     "Yes I am but I am not seeing a valve."

     "WHAT?!  The valve has to be there!  You aren't looking hard enough."  I can tell he was getting frustrated over the situtation. 

     We argued about it for a moment and he hung up.  I stood there for a moment wondering what to do next.  I could hear the girls coming near the back room.  I didn't want them to fall in the opening so I popped back out and led them to the livingroom.  My phone rung again.  It was my mother-in-law.  Brian called her to come and help me out.  I filled her in on the situtation.  She came over to see if there was anything she can do.  "I've never seen such a thing."  she says as she watches the water pour out of the tub faucet.  She tried the knobs but with no luck.  She looked behind the metal panel and was amazed that there isn't a knob.  "There is supposed to be a shut off valve here."  she informs me, "but there is not."   She calls Brian to confirm that there isn't a shut off valve behind the tub.  We both head back down into the cellar to look and she was half laughing at the lack of sight of a valve.  "I have a friend who knows about plumbing.  Let me call him to come and take a look."

     She calls her friend and in a few hours he shows up with his wife and accesses my plumbing situtation. "Hi.  Don't worry.  I am a jack of all trades and a master of nothing, "  Right away I envisioned his head on a jack of diamonds playing card.   "Looks like you have a problem."  he informs me.  

     No kidding!   I thought to myself.  I never thought I would want to see the water shut off.   "Let me see what I can do."  He heads outside and brings in his bag of tools.  His wife, my mother-in-law and I go into the livingroom to talk and  the kids were happily watching tv. 

    He traces one of the pipes in the bathroom to a wall.  "Where does this pipe go, do you know?"  He certainly asked the wrong person.  I shook my head and gave my sholders a shug to indicate to him that I didn't know.  He walks outside and around the house.  On the side of the house, just under the bathroom window, was a large silver metal slab.  I never knew what was under it.   He opened it up and found the pipes and a valve that led out to the city water.  He turned that valve and my water shut off in the house. 

     "I know where the pipe goes out to."  he explained to me about the metal slab, "Unfortunally, I have to shut the water off to your whole house.  You might want to call a professional plumber to come and and look things over.  I think you have a broken pipe under the ground." 

     "Oh no!"  I exclaimed back.  I knew this wasn't going to be good. 

     Since it was getting late in the day I had to wait the next day, without water, to call a professional plumber to come and look at it.  He said that they would have to do some digging to fix the pipe and it could take up to a week to fix.  He informed to check with my house insurance to see about the work being covered. 

     I called up State Farm and told them of the situtation and gave them the name and number to the plumber.  Thankfully because the break was under the ground the insurance does pay for it and they will also cover the cost of a hotel for our family.  This unfortunate event ended up being like a mini vacation.  The insurance agent tried looking in the area for hotels with a double room.  We were a family of 6 but 5 at the time since Brian was in another state.  There wasn't a hotel that would accommodate our family size.  She looked in Grand Rapids and found one.  Residence Inn in Grandville up off of 44th st (now near Rivertown Point) had a two bedroom suite with a kitchenette.  Perfect!  The only down side to it was having to drive down to Allegan every day to take Christain to school at East Martin Christian with all the children in tow.  We had to wake up earlier than normal but it was something we had to do. 

Ashton watching TV in the livingroom of the hotel.

     I packed up several of their clothes and toys and made my way north to the hotel.  We took the elevator to the second floor and made our way to the room at the end of the hallway.  We opened the door and I was suprised by how beautiful the room was.  The kitchen, complete with cupboards and dishes, were off to the left.  The livingroom was straight ahead with a faux fireplace.  Off each side of the livingroom was a bedroom with a queen size bed.  Christian, Elizabeth and Ashton took one room and James (since he was still a baby) and I took the other room.  They even had a portable playpen that I could use for James.  I put their clothes in the dressers and organized their toys and books.  The kids really enjoyed having a TV in their room since I don't allow them to have one in their own bedroom at home.  But there was also a TV in the livingroom and one in my bedroom.  It was very roomy and comfortable since we were displaced at the moment.

Ashton (age 2 and a half) and Beth (age 5)

     Later on in the week Brian came home, or I should probably say the hotel.  He would talk to the plumber and see how things were progressing.  He had the plumber install shut-off valves to the the bathroom and the kitchen and another one under the house for those just in case moments. 

     We enjoyed our time at the hotel and tried to make the most of it.  We would kick back, lounge around watching news programs while the children were in their room watching episodes of Rugrats or Blue's Clues.  Then one station caught our attention that we didn't have at home.  At the time we didn't realize the historical event that was about to take place several hours into the future  as we sat back and watched what was before our eyes. 

     This story will continue on the January 29th blog of the historical event that happens next.