Have you ever heard your heartbeat? Not through a medical instrument of any sort? Just heard it with your own very ears because it's about to beat right out of your chest?
Yeah. That happened last night.
My PB, he falls asleep quick. Add a bad headache and he's out like a burned out lightbulb. Me, no not really, it takes me a few hours to fall asleep, or so it seems. Last night was one of those nights. I was laying awake thinking about the Bachelor and my siblings and what to eat for breakfast and how to solve world hunger and what my next blog post would be. Somewhere in there I guess I kind of fell into a half-sort-of-asleep.
All that changed very quickly when I heard some noises. My first thought was, where are those noises coming from? The second thought was, I THINK THOSE NOISES ARE COMING FROM DOWNSTAIRS, as in
inside our apartment downstairs.
Those noises were people, talking, kind of loudly, and moving stuff around.
These thoughts were confirmed about .2 seconds later when I heard them say " in 77".
Yep, that's us. These guys were definitely here with us in apartment 77.
And they seemed flustered! And in a hurry! And my life now seemed to be in grave danger!
"Paul!" I said in my best loud whisper, because I wasn't sure if I wanted those people downstairs to know that there were actually people upstairs too. "Paul, someone is downstairs!" and I shook that man awake.
***It should be noted here, that a few weeks ago we were chatting over our Lucky Charms one morning when the PB told me that I'd woken him up telling him someone was downstairs. This was a strange dream apparently because I sure don't remember it. It should also be noted that two nights ago, I woke up to Paul's hand smothering my face. But that's unrelated, and don't worry because he apologized in the morning.
Well this time wasn't a dream, I was wide awake, and Paul was now too.
He gets up. We try to think of a game plan.
First we put on some clothes.
He turns on the light. Oh no! I think, now they will know we are here.
This is when I tell Paul I can hear my heartbeating. I was absolutlely all-parts-of-my-body terrified.
I felt like I was in my last moments of life. I didn't know if I should call 911. I didn't know what to do.
Paul opens the bedroom door.
"Should I come?", "No."
He starts to head down the stairs.
I follow.
Just as he is about to turn the corner from the stairs into the living room, my honest thought was, "My husband is going to get shot. Then what am I going to do?"
He didn't even have to make the final turn before we saw it.
Water. Everywhere.
Our apartment floor was
covered with water.
Two maintenance guys, the sources of loud noises, quickly explained. "Your water heater busted! The lady downstairs called. It's leaking down to her apartment. We've been trying to get in for 10 minutes!"
My first thought was this: I just barely went to bed! How is there this much water in here? I just barely went to bed!
We raced to save our belongings, but by some miracle of miracles, nothing really needed saving! We had both put our computers up on the couches before we went to sleep. Also, our bookcases have about an inch ledge on the bottom, so the water wasn't touching any books. In fact, it was barely touching anything but carpet. "Lucky ducks!" we thought to ourselves.
An hour, six maintenance workers, and two shop vacs later, most of the water was out.
Our apartment was locked back up and we went back to bed.
How about you try falling asleep after something like that. I just kept thinking about everything that might still be wet, hidden away in closets and other secret places. Also, I couldn't stop thinking about how stinky our apartment is going to be. Or how we might die of mold inhalation.Or if someone else might unexpectedly show up in the middle of the night. Paul was asleep in four minutes, as usual.
In the aftermath this morning, I realized how lucky we are that nothing was really ruined. Three jackets got soaked, one of which is wool, expensive, and very handsome
on Paul, so I'm a little concerned about that, but we are counting ourselves lucky that nothing was really ruined besides our sweet slumber. Also, I'm feeling lucky that right as I type, they are installing a new water heater downstairs, and if I'm really lucky I might get a shower before work. Because lets be honest, I should have taken one yesterday when we had hot water, but how was I supposed to know that?
Also, lucky for you I had my iPhone handy in case I needed to call 911 for a shot wound, so you get some pics of the craziness that was our apartment at 12:30 in the morning.
(This pic shows the water rather nicely. Just look at the pool PB is standing in.)
(Our hooded helpers. Usually the carpet doesn't show a reflection...)
Usually you can't make ripples on the kitchen floor.
This morning, the clean up continued and I wish I had done the dishes better because they had to take out the counter top and sink for a while.
The culprit of the whole fiasco used to sit right in that empty space. A thirty gallon water heater.
Dun dun dun duuunnnnn...
Our fridge is just chillaxin in the front room right now.
If you see your picture on the front, that means you're favorites.
If you don't see your picture, that means you should send us a picture.
And things got a little steamy in here!
Our front room window this morning.
The moisture is on the inside, in case you thought it rained outside.
PS: When I called my mom at 12:30 in the a.m. Eastern Standard Time to tell her my predicament, she simply said to me "I can't wait to read this blog post." So mamma- this one's for you.
PPS: One of the maintenance workers this morning said, "First
the lock, now this!" and I said "Oh, you remember me?" and was really embarrassed. hahahaha
