Cold Hands, Warm Heart

This past weekend was quite an unexpected adventure. My school vacation ended with a lovely blizzard that covered the area with a little over a foot of snow. I am very thankful for the white powder since it gave me TWO grown-up snow days from internship (Thank you Mister Snow Miser!) And while I was cuddled on the couch reading about Relational Cultural Theory (fun stuff...), J was already back to the medical school grind. (He did get one day off from classes though, which he spent very productively binging on Criminal Minds). On Friday evening, I headed up to his apartment for a few days. We spent the night excited for our rare, low key, relaxed weekend. But of course, fate had something else in mind for us...

On Saturday morning around 11, while J was preoccupied in the bathroom reading Flipboard and doing other bathroomy things... I began to hear rushing water downstairs. I asked his roommate Chris where the sounds were coming from. And before I could finish my question, water began to pour down from a vent in the ceiling into the living room. We jumped up and grabbed pots and pans to try and catch the water. We soon realized that it was extremely hot, and steam started emerging from the lightbulbs. In a matter of minutes, Niagara Falls was pouring into J's apartment. Then a second, and third vent started expelling water, as well as the ceiling. Can you say "aquarium life"? Oii! Chris ran over to his neighbors for some help. Thank goodness- cause SOS, that ship was sinking! FINALLY, J appeared from the bathroom and ran downstairs to look at the damage. Their neighbor shut off the water, and I turned down the temperature which helped slow down the flow. BUT this also meant the apartment had no heat and water. The guys were eventually able to get in touch with their landlord who said a plumber would be arriving that afternoon.

EIGHT HOURS LATER.... a very unique cartoony man with a mustache that resembled that of Mr. Monopoly, Mario, Luigi, and W.B. Mason came to the rescue. He discovered that a pipe burst within their heating system. Unfortunately there was nothing he could due until 9am the next morning. So! It was a family trip to Lowe's to get space heaters for us. Once we got them back and assembled, the three of us huddled around the machine with a few glasses of alcohol. We we layered up with hoodies, hats, and gloves. And all while we were freezing, I looked around and couldn't help but laugh. There were pots and pans all over the place. We had a fire in the fireplace with crumbled newspapers, and the three of us were hunched over a space heater with so many layers on it was difficult to sit up. What a crazy experience. I tried to keep the guys in good spirits as I knew they were frustrated by the circumstances. We finished the night with a round of drinks at a local bar, some heat, and warm burgers (french fries for me!).

The next morning, our super hero plumber aka Mr. Monopoly aka Mario/Luigi aka W.B. Mason aka Kevin (his real name) arrived and solved the problem! "The Vin" was such a happy, informative little man. He was even enthusiastic about taking a pic with the guys after the job was done. Although the weekend was a bit of a disaster, we were all able to look at it from a light hearted perspective. Lots of watery instagrams, jokes about waterfalls, and silly shivering snapchats helped warm our hearts while our hands were freezing. As crazy as it may sound, I'm really happy I was around to experience the pipe catastrophe. Sometimes that's what real life is like. Ridiculous, messy, unexpected, frustrating, and cold. Often you just need to throw on a few more layers and surround yourself with people that make you happy.

Thanks Kevin!

It's all about how you look at something. Stay warm (and dry!)
xoxo
Casey