Calling All Angels

The leaking began with the downstairs window frame in the kitchen last Wednesday. After not getting to Aquatics Therapy class on Tuesday because of yet another storm hitting Boston, I knew I had to get to Spaulding and into the pool. I unplugged the toaster and moved it out of harms way. I put saran wrap on the window sill, asked the angels to please watch over the house and went to Aquatics.

When we got home, I was inspired to suggest to Tom that we use duct tape to seal off the leak. It held. We began the quest to find someone who could remove our ice dams.

Fortunately no one was available. As we sprung more and more leaks, we escalated the search believing that the culprit was the ice dams. A search on Craig's List brought us one individual who was going to charge us $2500 and was not going to write up a formal proposal to do the work. We trusted our gut and despite the leaks, knew we had to move forward with care asking Spirit to guide us every step of the way. I cast a wide net filling out contact forms, contacting HomeAdvisor and networking with my friends.

We received an email from one company yesterday. Six men crew. $1900 cash or check or money order. We were planning to have him come on Friday but this morning at 4 am we heard 3 beeps wake us up.

"Is that your phone going off? Tom asked. "No is it yours?"

We got up and realized it was the CO detector. I immediately felt dizzy and nauseous and had a headache.

"Oh no what do we do?"

We googled the signals for the CO detector and found out that it's 4 beeps not 3 that indicate dangerous levels of CO. Besides our detectors in the basement and on the 1st floor had not gone off.

Whew! Dodged that bullet. It was the anxiety I felt that was causing the symptoms!

And then we heard the familiar drip drip drip. More leakage and that's what set off the detector.

We put a bucket underneath the leak and decided to get a bit more sleep before it was time to get up for Aquatics. With the drip drip drip as my meditation soundtrack, I repeated my mantras of "All will be well. All will be well. Let the Universe take care of you Mary." I prayed. I called on all of my helpers seen and unseen to see us through.

We got up and got ready for Aquatics leaving plenty of time for traffic. We made it to Spaulding in only a half hour.

We had an absolutely magnificent Aquatics Therapy class with only 3 participants. We channeled our inner ballerina, did water yoga and did gentle aqua jogging with a noodle in the deep end. We did a lot of stretching which felt amazing after all the tension I was feeling around the leaking in our house. I knew that staying home would only serve to increase my anxiety so as we left, I asked the angels to keep watch over our house and to please send someone to help.

I checked email. The company was going to try to get someone to the house tomorrow and would send a formal proposal.

I received voice mails for scheduling appointments in 3 weeks to remove ice dams. One company called and said he would do only snow removal for $1600 and that he doesn't recommend removing ice dams because you can destroy the gutters. One landscaping company told me he had a crew in the area and they would come and break up the ice dams. He couldn't give me an estimate and said that if they came to look at the job, we would have to hire them to do the work.

And then ... "Hi Mary - Eddie from Brookline Roofing. You left a message. What do you need me to do?"

I told him.

"You at home?"

"We will be in about half an hour."

"Great. I'll meet you there."

And my angel in the form of Eddie Linehan who has been in the roofing business for over 23 years came to the rescue. He explained to us that the damage from the ice dams was already done. If he removed the snow and the water that was trapped between the cold snow on top and the water trapped from the warmth of the house and the ice dams, the leaking would stop. Removing the ice dams is costly and dangerous. He and his partner worked for about an hour clearing the snow off the roof, freeing up the water to either refreeze or roll off of the roof and took care of the snow and ice on our awnings. They took off whatever ice they could safely remove. He told us to make holes in the ceiling to allow the water to drain and dry out and to call our insurance company to file a claim. He said it would take at least several hours for the leaking to stop.

Our window frames have stopped leaking and we have the sound of drip dripping into a bucket in our upstairs hallway. The droplets that extended the length of our hallway ceiling have resolved and now we are patient ... and grateful ....

grateful to have heat and to know that if we have any problems with our heat we have Boston Standard Plumbing to call. We are grateful for electricity and food and that the damage is contained to the hallway. We are grateful that Spirit intervened and we only had to pay $400 for the roof snow removal and the guidance about our next steps. I believe that my Aunt Barbara who was married to my father's brother, Uncle Al, who was in the roofing business sent Eddie to us. All of my friends' prayers and intentions to help us find a contractor manifested. We are grateful that Spring is on its way and that we have the practice of meditation to see us through. I am grateful that I have a wonderful partner with Tom. We work well together as Team McManus.

I'm calling all angels for my friends who need contractors, heat, electricity and the strength and fortitude to navigate these next few weeks until Spring arrives in New England. I'm calling all angels to watch over us and keep us safe knowing they are here with us before we even have to utter a word!

Journey well!

"Journey Well" and all of my inspirational books are available on Amazon.

"Journey Well" is a book about resilience, strength, courage and how we are able to journey well no matter what conditions life hands to us. I profile the people who are Boston Stronger and share how 4/15/13 was a wake up call to me to return to my healing path from contracting paralytic polio at age 5 and 9 years of domestic violence as a child and adolescent.



50% of all book proceeds are donated to AccesSportAmerica where people of all ages and abilities achieve higher function and fitness through high challenge sports and training.