Emotional Spring Cleaning

We had two floods in our basement in the past 3 months.  The second one, an "I Love Lucy" kind of pipe burst, happened two days after finishing our basement after the first flood and installing a water purification system.  I was baffled about why this was happening.  Not the physical reason- a valve explosion, but the bigger reason.  

After the initial shock of seeing the water and turning off the valve.  My husband and I immediately started to salvage stuff.  Cleaning out the basement was on my list of stuff to do that day and so, now I could avoid it no longer.  Miraculously, the important stuff was fine. Photos, books, clothes were intact.  The stuff that we no longer needed or had no meaning, was tossed.  

Then it hit me.   I needed to spring clean my basement and also my inner world.  I had all this old stuff in me that I no longer needed, but was holding on to for no other reason than habit.  Now was the opportunity to let it go, toss it out.  The basement is not spotless (just like my inner emotional state), but it is clearer and more manageable.  If another flood hits, there will be less damage and it will be easier to recover from.  I am better capable of handling it.  

The flood also allowed me to be grateful.  I was feeling victimized when it happened.  Then I realized that we are so lucky that we were around when it happened, that my husband was home to help, that we have enough money to pay the plumber, that we had water in the house to drink and bathe, that we had a house, that we were alive.  

Yes, it was a pain in the butt to clean up and we had no water for a few hours, but that's about it.  It was another reminder of how blessed we are.  Oh, and I found some old mother's and father's day cards from when I was six.  That was pretty cool...