We're not properly padded

Many Atlanta homes and businesses don't have properly insulated pipes in exterior walls or under houses. As a result, water/ice/slush coated many streets after the hard freeze, and repairs are slowly starting. Don't expect every business or government office to be open this week, even if that was the plan.

I had a small water event in the basement bathroom of our rented townhouse - luckily I was home to catch it.

We had a large water event in the vacant unsellable house in Lake Claire. Neighbors let us know water was pouring off a deck. Insurance was contacted, but I'm not going to touch the place. There's nothing I can really do by myself (the husband and kids are out of town for the holiday). I was lucky enough to be with friends when the news of the problem got to me, so I could have a good hard cry in someone else's bathroom for once. It was a nice change of scenery in which to sob.

The realtor was actually the one who managed to get the water shut off at disaster house. I had called the city emergency line, but with pipes popping all over the city in Christmas Day, we were just put on a list. City of Atlanta water meters are the special fancy locking kind, not the old curb key kind, or I would have killed the water supply before the cold reached us. Instead I had just turned on the heat, set the taps to drip, and hoped for the best like everyone else.

It's just busted pipes. No one I know died. Things will get better. My friend's house is big enough that I could take 15 minutes in a back bathroom to collect myself before going back out to snack and play boardgames with friends. I didn't talk about the problem, and everyone there was considerate enough to not ask how selling the Lake Claire house is going.

This all reminded me of when I was pregnant and would have to leave group settings and vomit. Everyone knew I was leaving the party or work meeting to go be sick, and it wasn't remarked on except in a supportive way. As we continue to go through the journey of losing the house, sometimes I have to leave whatever I'm doing to go emotionally vomit in the back bathroom. I try to go out and have fun or be productive, but at this point I never know when the nausea of the bigger thing happening to me is going to sieze control. I was supposed to have four days off for the holiday. I spent at least a few hours of each of my days off dealing with problems caused by the weather.

Luckily, I got a text the next day from work management letting me know we have tomorrow off as well. A pipe popped at work, too. No telling what the damage at the office will be, and maybe they'll allow me to work from home later in the week.

One of my best friends gave me supportive hugs at the holiday party while I sobbed. I had tried to go to the party to forget for a few hours all the weather problems, and the call about the water cascading off a deck in the vacant house came in right as I arrived. Actually, the call came in to my friend's phone, because of course mine had been destroyed in the water event at the rental house the previous day.

As my friend gave me a ride home later, I emotionally vomited all over his car during the trip, because I'm sick. I'm sick with the consequences of the last two years. My friend understood, and we caught up a little. I hadn't seen him in months, because I've been busy with all the things that are making me sick.

It's difficult to go anywhere or do anything with friends while you're experiencing a disaster. I never know when my own pipes will burst, sending gross, unwanted water everywhere. I imagine losing a house must be like going through a divorce that way. Maybe losing the house is less like vomiting from morning sickness, and more like being divorced by the place where you used to live. I don't want to live with that house anymore, but the actual divorce proceedings are dragging on, and putting me through the wringer. The house keeps calling me with problems that have to be fixed. Lawyers are involved, but think we're both boring, and by the end, neither the house or I will have any money.

Which is a long way of saying that there's ice in the streets, and Atlanta has so much water damage we might as well have had a flood. Repairmen will be busy. They'll get to the rental, and the vacant house, and my work eventually. Don't expect a lot from those of us down here for a week or so.