Like many areas on the East coast, we have been having heavy rains for the past few weeks. Last Sunday, N and I discovered a huge flood in our basement. We had to hire a water restoration company to repair the damage and ensure that we have no mold issues. We have water damage two feet up the wall.

Our basement is currently a disaster zone. We stored so much stuff in the basement and so much was ruined. Then the company we hired ripped out the walls and set up professional grade dehumidifiers and fans to ensure the wood dried properly.

We have been running around trying to get everything done. From moving the stuff that we could save so that the work could be done. To throwing out the stuff that sadly cannot be saved. It has been a very stressful couple of weeks. I had boxes of books in the basement and they are not savable, I also had my collection of books from my time working at the Rockefeller Archive and from Library School. Sadly they were on the bottom shelf of the bookcase and all were heavily damaged and can’t be saved. The bookcase itself was pressed wood and is trash now.

Thankfully, we have some amazing family and friends who were so fantastic. They came out time and again to help us move stuff, clean and throw stuff out. We are so grateful to all of them and know that we could not have gotten through these past few weeks with our sanity intact without their help and support.

This has also been such a nightmare with the insurance. We are fighting to ensure that we are covered at least a little but it is a rough fight. Sadly we thought that our homeowner’s policy with Allstate would ensure we were taken care of but that is not the case. We are really bummed and are still hoping that we can win this fight.