Earlier this year, I created a list of 19 things I wanted to do in 2019. As of mid-June, I’ve scrapped one and completed about three of them, so I guess I should probably get on that. Here’s a recap of what I’ve done so far.

Back in February, a water main broke on our street and somehow flooded several rooms in our house. It destroyed the laminate flooring that came with the house, which meant we had to dry out most of the floors for several days and then replace the flooring. Instead of dwelling on this awful luck, I decided to look on the bright side, the silver lining if you will. I focused on the fact that we were finally getting new flooring – something we had talked about for years but could never commitment to – and we found out there was some mold growing in our crawl space that we were able to take care of before it made anyone sick.

Now, once again, I’m faced with a situation in which I can choose to dwell on my misfortune or try to find that silver lining in things: on Friday (the start of Memorial Day Weekend) I was in a car accident that has likely left my car totaled. Unfortunately, I was at fault and I know it, though I will only personally accept about 90% of the blame because if the construction worker hadn’t parked his car on the curb where it didn’t belong, none of this would have happened.

As I write this, I’m sitting in my kitchen listening to the loud, monotonous whir of several industrial-strength fans and dehumidifiers. For four days, the fans have been pointed at bare floors that have been stripped of laminate and carpet in an attempt to dry them completely before any mold or other water damage can occur. They’ve been running day and night since Saturday and I’m starting to get used to the sound, like giant white noise machines lulling you to sleep.

fans in the dining room