A year ago today the life that I knew started to unravel. A series of events set in motion by a storm, the literal winds of change.
I live on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Last fall we experienced significant rainfall - much higher than normal - and the water level of the creek that bordered my property rose quickly and flooded my house for the first time in 58 years. In past the creek had overflowed less than a handful of times with watercovering the lawn but never entering the garage.
I was on the mainland visiting my daughter for the weekend. At 7am I woke to my phone ringing. It was my tenant, a lovely young gal who had only moved into my basement suite two weeks prior.
I was at minimum 4 to 5 hours before I could get home. It was over an hour to the ferry terminal and then a 2 hour ferry ride to the island.
I told her I'd call my partner and have him come by and assess and provide direction.
I'd been dating John for 5 years and admittedly it wasn't going well. It felt like we were stuck in a rut and there were some things we couldn't move past. He was emotionally unavailable in some aspects of our relationship and it was wearing on me. It was make or break time.
I called John and told him about the flooding. I knew he would be on his way to work shortly and asked if he could go by my place and check on the house and the tenant.
"What am I supposed to do?" he said. I was a bit dumb-founded. If the tables were turned I would've been at his place in a heartbeat taking whatever actions were necessary.
"She's a 23-year old girl" I said "please go have a look". In my head I'm thinking please show up in my life. Please be my partner. He did go thankfully, took the photo above but left without going inside... A snapshot of our relationship.
To add to the mix, three days earlier on November 12, I had received the news that my brother, my only sibling, had stage 4 cancer (lungs, bone, brain) and the prognosis wasn't good...
The Universe was serving up some heavy stuff.
On the day of the flood, it took several hours for me to get home. Raging winds that accompanied the torrential rainfall cancelled ferry sailings leaving me stuck at the terminal with major anticipation of what lie ahead.
The water level reached 8" at the height of the flooding leaving a dirty line on the walls. It had receded to about 2" by the time I walked through the door. What a mess. Floor boards had lifted and were floating randomly. Interestingly I didn't cry. I surveyed the damage while a plan formulated in my head. John came over after work. "This is major flooding, definitely an insurance claim".
I was planning on selling my house the following spring as I was retiring. I certainly didn't need this major obstacle along with the other stuff on my plate.
Stoically I got the ball rolling and within four months I had cleaned house literally. Hours of hard work, purging physically and emotionally. It was May - my house was for sale with a fully renovated lower floor, my brother had stabilized, I was about to retire and John was gone.
In the summer I moved to a new community, buying a spectacular house with my oldest son. He & the fam (wife, 3 kids) live upstairs and I've got myself a groovy little ground level suite with endless access to my joyful grandchildren.
As I reflect on the past year I'm amazed and pleased with myself for having the courage to ride the winds of change and create a new life for myself. I sleep well, stopped biting my nails and feel peaceful inside ... well most of the time...
