It was a typical Saturday morning for me; I had picked up my produce and ran to the grocery store to grab a few necessities. I came home read a bit then proceeded to the kitchen to start making salsa. I had all the fresh ingredients for black bean corn salsa, my personal favorite. As I chopping up some tomatoes I hear the sound of dry wall cracking, well at that exact moment, I didn't know it was the sound of dry wall cracking. I looked up at the ceiling above the refrigerator. The crack up there had gotten considerably larger since the last time I looked at it. Realizing the sound I heard was telling me it wasn't going to hold much longer I stood there helpless trying to figure out what to do. I'm not very good at standing helpless. So true to form, I rushed into the problem to determine if there was something I could do to fix it. Given that I was pretty sure the ceiling was going to cave it. I assessed the situation and determined the only thing I could do was to try and guide the large pieces of drywall down instead of letting them fall on their own. If I tried to control the cave in, I might be able to save some of the stuff still piled high on the refridgerator and cabinets near the fissure.
The first chunk fell, and I though ok that wasn't that bad. Then as I'm standing there holding the ceiling up I realize this wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done in my life. (Although, surprisingly not the stupidest either.) Then I thought I'm going to die, this ceiling is going to collapse on me and I'm going to die, alone, under a pile of drywall and fiberglass snow. Somehow I was able to drop the piece of drywall behind me. Now, like everything in the kitchen I was covered with a thin layer of dirt and fiberglass. I'd survived the sky falling, and stepped down to assess the whole picture. Of course I stepped on a nail. So I headed to the bathroom, took a seat on the floor and processed for a few minutes while waiting for my foot to stop bleeding, keeping myself from panicking about infected puncture wounds, and trying to remember when my last tetanus shot was.
When that moment passed I started making phone calls… roommate… landlord… help… roommate… help.
The landlord came to check out the situation and didn't offer much in the way of comfort or help. He couldn't find anyone to come over and clean at that hour on a Saturday evening.Now, I need order in my life. When I am out of control of a situation (like when the ceiling falls down, perhaps) I need it more than ever. At that moment I needed to put the kitchen back in order. So, after leaving a few "please help me" messages, I began cleaning. Help arrived in the form of a friend and his brother about two hours later when I was cleaning up the last of the fiberglass. They took the three monster bags of fiberglass and the big heavy trash can full of drywall pieces, out. Then sealed up the gaping hole in the ceiling with trash bags and staples. (It's ghetto fabulous, and makes a whooshing sound when the back door is opened or closed.) Then entertained me ate some salsa that survived the ceiling collapse with some chips that didn't, and had a couple of beers that I had just happened to pick up at the store that morning. Then since the kitchen was not fit for cooking went out to eat some sushi.
It was definitely not how I had planned to spend my Saturday afternoon, but I guess it's best to be flexible. My high school choir teacher used to always say…cope and adjust…truer words have never been spoken, well at least when your ceiling falls down on you in the middle of making salsa.
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