Flooded Floors and Carrot Cake

I took today off. It’s kind of a weird day for me – today is Al’s birthday. It just doesn’t feel right to be at work and just ignore what was always a day of some significance. Al was one who liked to celebrate his birthday and let others know that it’s all about him. How many times would we hear him jokingly sing “Happy birthday to me” when he’d ask someone to do something for him?  And it wouldn’t matter how we celebrated his birthday, he really just wanted those few minutes when the kids would come over to wish him a happy birthday. We’d turn out all the lights, light the candles on the cake and gather around him to sing happy birthday while he’d grin like a little kid. Gifts were never important; it was the fact that his grown children still took the time to come see him. And the words handwritten in the birthday cards, those were the things he relished the most.

When I woke this morning I closed my eyes for a moment as I imagined his face and wished him a happy birthday. Things went a little, well, strangely from there. I walked out in to the backyard and all of a sudden it started raining. It’s been sunny and warm but today of all days it rains. Yeah, yeah, the weatherman probably predicted it but it rained TODAY.  I made coffee and settled down in a chair to watch the morning news and get online. No internet. Of course. Comcast thought they’d finally figured everything out and after replacing everything they could possibly replace; my internet service appeared to be working consistently after months of extremely spotty service.

**About my internet service - I’ve been working with a local supervisor for months and have had at least 10 or 11 different technicians in my home doing work to solve my outage problems. The thing is, when they run diagnostics on other Comcast customer’s internet service that surrounds me, no one else has fluctuating service or outages. They’ll replace a cable or two inside or outside and everything is fine for a few days and then it goes out. They’ll try different modems and all is good for a couple of days and then it goes out. Several technicians have said it’s a strange electrical problem where there seems to be a lot of feedback or something. However nothing fails but the internet. And there has been no significant electrical “happening” taking place in my home that could cause this except one. My husband’s death and spiritual presence.

Ok, back to today. It’s raining. My internet is out. All morning long my cable has been losing its signal in 15-30 second intervals. Just a gray, snowy picture on all channels. Even with all the internet problems I’ve had going on, this NEVER happens.

And then the pièce de résistance...I started a load of clothes and began doing a few random things around the house before heading out to lunch with my daughters. The next thing I know there is water coming out from under the laundry room door. Yep, my washing machine drain backed up and was spilling out all over the floor.

Hello Al, happy birthday to you! Just like you to do a little turning of the screw today. Think I’ll have a little carrot cake tonight just for you. Ha! Gotcha back. I love you.

Kenwood, Pioneer....New Life and a Cleaner Carport

My doorbell rang this afternoon and I opened the door to a young man inquiring about the stereo equipment I have sitting piled up in a corner of my carport. He said he has some equipment in his dorm room but needed some piece and asked if I’d sell that particular unit to him. I walked outside with him and looked at it all. These were Al’s things, stuff we bought years ago. Things I have no understanding of. Stacked components? Tuners? Subwoofers? All I know is they haven’t been used in years and they are (or were) quality pieces of electronics. Al loved music and loved to turn it up loud and he bought the best.

But over the years as certain pieces failed and needed parts replaced we’d just set the equipment aside as other interests took over. Sometime after Al passed I loaded all the equipment and stacked it in the family room eventually moving it out to the carport. My plan was to list it on Craigslist and sell it – hell, I figured I could use the money. But I needed to do research to figure out what I actually had and what to charge so there it sat.

So when this young man appeared at my door this afternoon I knew it was right to just offer it to him. I told him that if he was interested he could take all of it for free, not just the one piece he needed. He looked at me somewhat disbelievingly. I told him I had no use for it anymore and didn't even know if it was usable. He said he can rebuild things and definitely use parts from all of it. I asked again if he wanted to have it all. He said absolutely, that he just needed to get his friend to help him cart it away.

As much as Al loved that stuff and took pride in it, I know he would have loved to see that young man’s face when I told him he could have it all. It’s kind of weird letting go of those items since I associate my husband with them but it feels good too. Kind of like breathing new life in to something old. And just a little bit of a smile spread across my face.