damages and love

the house we now live was built on some water you could say. we have pumps going full blast from every little corner of this house. beautiful spring water all around. this spring season brought a whole new host of problems as the rain comes down incessantly. we have been a whopping 5 straight days without rain here in the desert. now normally i love rain. i am quite sure one day i will plant roots in issaquah, washington, or mystic, connecticut......but for now i take what i can get in the desert. my only stipulation is that it not enters the house. it has been pouring down the basement stairs in large quantity. because we do live super close to the mountain and the run off, there is a hefty flood insurance policy in place that comes with a steep price also. so when i called to make a claim in may as the entire basement floor was floating in water, they told me it didn't cover rain.

oh, i mean that makes perfect sense. because naturally flooding is caused by er, anyway. i gave them a good battle and finally got a poor fellow from arkansas to come look at the damages. he arrived to a kidless house. my mother had declared this specific day a birthday redo and had the short people for the entire day. there was nothing else i wanted to do than go to costco and get groceries. i was cutting watermelon, grating cheese on the cuisinart that fabulous redhead purchased for his wife and listening to pandora. my favorite station is a jazz one. i typed michael buble in and etta, norah, frank, harry and bing sang me into a sous chef prep heaven. i had just finished singing norah's "turn me on" when this poor fellow rang the bell. i still had the music blasting when he insisted he needed to come in and assess the damage and measure the house. he had a deep drawl that made me want to eat collard greens and fried chicken. after he puttered around a bit measuring the house, i offered the house plans to him and he wiped the sweat from his brow. this would save him 45 minutes he declared. he planted himself down at my kitchen table writing away. all the while i was slicing veggies, grating cheese and cutting watermelon.

conversation grew dim as we both plunged into our work. all of a sudden my lost in thought self became aware that my music was still blasting away. i then tuned into what was playing. it happened to be frank sinatra singing "i only have eyes for you." i was whistling along when i realized that this situation might seem awkward for this poor young fellow. a woman prepping food with no apparent children around whistling love songs. i didn't want to immediately go over and turn the music down for two reasons a) i didn't want him to think i was embarrassed 2) if i made any sudden movements and broke his train of thought and say he hadn't noticed the air of love about the house, this sudden movement might draw attention to it. but then etta james broke into singing "aaaaaaaat laaaaaaaast, myyyyyy loooooove has come alonnnnnnnnggggggg". i was red faced thinking that this poor boy could possibly be thinking that this lonely woman might be trying to lure him into her watermelon trance.

when he first entered he apologized for his appearance because he'd been driving for days. i immediately offered him use of the facilities or drink or food. i believe in the hospitality of aunt bea and offered him a chicken salad sandwich. he declined with many "no ma'am and thank you no ma'am" responses. i might have embarrassed him initially with my hospitality and as my mind started racing as etta proclaimed her love thru tunes i was fully embarrassed at how this situation was playing out. when norah jones started singing "come away with me" i ran to turn the music off. i didn't care what he thought, i was red cheeked. the appointment was over quickly after that and this poor lad excused himself with a handshake.

i have vowed to keep my music habits away from all service people who enter this house, AMEN!