Cleanup from our flood is progressing slowly. We got our water heater back on line this morning and a professional is due today to extract water from the carpet. Because we know the pad is also saturated we intend to just replace the carpet. Since there was three inches of water in there, we expect the drywall will need replaced in the lower portion of the walls, some of which is now behind the furnace, water softener, and bladder tank. We’ll ask the professional’s advice on all that while he’s here. But, he’s way behind schedule because so many others were flooded as well.

This has given us a chance to do cleanup. Because we had to move dozens of books to move the bookcases, it was an opportunity to say, “You know, I really don’t know why I bought that unread book, or who gave it to me.” If I haven’t used it in five years, I’ll probably never read it, so why is it taking up space?

We’ve also determined to buy some of those plactic tubs they sell at Wal-Mart to make sure things stay dry, with the side advantage of organizing things a little better. We have important documents laid out on newspapers to dry because the water level was high enough to leak into our safe. I think a couple of bricks would elevate the safe enough that would never happen again. We built our house well out of the 100-year flood plain, yet got three inches in the house!

We’re seeing some positive results of the flood, but haven’t seen the bill yet. There is nothing this world offers that is truly secure. The only sure thing is that we can’t take a thing with us. Easy come; easy go. But we’re secure with God.

What have you lost recently that taught you a valuable lesson?