We Lived Through a Flood. Now We Have a Very Long To-Do List.

We Lived Through a Flood. Now We Have a Very Long To-Do List.
I registered for assistance, and was quickly offered several weeks in a hotel room — but told
that the room would probably be on the outskirts of Houston or beyond, so my daughter and my wife would probably have to spend hours getting to school and work.
Even though Jon had many more cars to pick up, he stayed to help me clean up,
and he tried to work with me to get the damaged garage door working again.
With a little time on his hands, Todd went door to door in our town
and an adjoining neighborhood offering to rip out people’s drywall, while Amanda did people’s laundry and served neighbors dinner.
The auto insurer provided a quick, fair payment for my wife’s car (mine was a company car),
but our homeowner’s policy doesn’t take care of flood damage to the house.
My wife, Paola, laughed at me, knowing all too well
that rolling towels against windows as the water breached our refuge was like grabbing Band-Aids to care for a gushing bullet wound.
The bad news was what they said would not be covered — our garage, for instance, because, the adjusters said, it includes a home office above.
It was almost like a race among our neighbors to get the stuff out, to avoid mold,
even while we all commiserated, compared notes, shared stories and drinks.
Todd and his wife, Amanda, suffered little damage aside from the foot of water that flooded their garage.