14th October 2009

What Else?

Earlier tonight, as I was walking my rescue dog, Lucky, and Melina in the stroller, I thought of a blog entry I needed to make.  It was going to be about my dog - and how I need some help with her.  How much changed in the next couple of hours….

 A lot has happened in the past month.  Melina and I went to NYC, so I could speak at a conference on PPC Conversion Tactics at the SMX show.  It was so incredibly challenging with a baby, driving (to avoid more germs than necessary and H1N1), parking - schlepping all that stuff around… Before I left, however, there was a major water leak from tub to living room ceiling.  We had to vacate the premises immediately while they cleaned the air, checked for mold spores, and pulled moisture out of the air.  Melina and I made things work despite this, we managed to get off to NYC only a couple of hours late, and we survived the trip to Hershey, an apparent ghost in the Homewood Suites hotel room  313 (sorry too tired to tell that insane story), Harlem, Spanish Harlem, Israeliness, walking all over the place, sitter issues, speaking on a new and possibly controversial topic, driving 14 hours back to Columbus, and yes, Melina getting sick (despite all efforts to keep her healthy). 

In the past week, Melina and I have had our share of doctor visits to ensure she doesn’t have or get H1N1.  We discovered a 5-week old kitten in a carwash bay, like I need that - and yes, it’s in my bathroom quarantined until leukemia tests can be run on the kitty.  The dog is driving me nuts.  One of the cats who is indoor/outdoor has decided he wants to be outside more than inside, and has decided to start marking rugs and the like.  I am not letting him outside because I don’t want to pay a vet bill if he gets hurt.  In fact, I think I could easily trade in the dog and maybe even the indoor/outdoor cat for the new kitten. 

Work has been somewhat challenged, but despite trekking to NYC and back, speaking at a conference, and Melina getting sick, I still managed to present on some new business opportunities.  I’ve got some bloodwork tomorrow to get some tests run, and am supposed to be on 12 hour fast.  I’ve got client meetings every day.  I’ve got daycare issues to balance.  So, life is really, really full.

 And then tonight, I come home with Melina, put her to sleep, and think I’m doing really, really good.  I’m ahead of schedule by an hour.  I was motivated by the list of chores ahead of me.  And, then I heard something.  I didn’t like the sound at all.  It was coming from my basement. 

So, when you are home with your baby, and you hear something coming from the basement, it’s amazing the decisions you make in seconds, not minutes.

I was not about to investigate the sound.  It sounded so menacing that I disarmed the security system, grabbed the baby without putting more clothes or jackets on her, put her in the car, and why, I got the dog too, I do not know.  I mean, why not leave the insane dog inside the house to deal with what was downstairs?  But, I got Lucky and Melina into the car, and figured, I’d get the cats out of the house.  And, then I heard the sound continuing to come from downstairs.

It sounded like fire…. cackling, hissing, ugh.  If not fire, it was a person.  Someone had broken into the second floor room in my house, recently, so I was already armed for danger, but this was a new, unnerving feeling.  I grabbed the fire extinguishers, the cell phone, and called out to my neighbors to watch Melina in the car, while I called 9-1-1. 

So what was it?  Is your heart pounding 1/10th of what mine was?  It was a water leak, a major water leak.

So tonight, I am writing without running water, soon, without heat, and with a child and animals to protect.  I always thought I’d grab a few things if I had to evacuate the house.  But, there was really only one priority that I needed to secure and it was my daughter’s safety.  What I noticed, however, is that in the past month there have been two situations that have impacted my feeling of security - and it is disconcerting to see its affect on my child.  Her eyes were pitch black, and clearly concerned.   Despite the insanity of my dog at times, clearly keeping my child safe is my top priority.  I’m thankful for such responsibility.  But there is the saying about Mama Bear - watch out for Mama Bear - and what she will do to protect her cubs….

So, thankful that this was not a fire, but will be more at peace when I know that the water leakage is fixed, and heat is reinstated after water damage is remedied.

Comments are closed.

More from Laura Thieme: