With Monday's all-day rain came some realizations. Frank's absence has left a huge hole in this house. Not simply a huge hole in my life.
The sump pump in the basement came on in early afternoon. Start, stop, start, stop, about every 25 seconds. Upstairs, I heard it, not realizing its on-off-on-off noises were just what happens normally. Once in the basement to check it out, I saw there was a serious leak in the plumbing. Every 25 seconds, big water would spray across the furnace and all over.
I'm not a basement gal, and never have been. That's always been Frank's domain. But Frank's not here to fix things, so I felt useless and helpless.
I called on Mike Shannon, the friend who built our deck five years ago. Frank and Mike became good friends through that deck-building process, which they did together. Mike was helpful to Frank in his last month here at home in particular.
Actually, Mike was helping Frank fix things on the very last day before Frank went to the VA Hospice Unit for the very last time, in early January. Frank had been saying for months that he had some things he wanted to get done in the basement, before he died. And Mike was there to help. They joked and laughed through the work, as usual. But it must have been weird for Mike: How does it feel to be helping a friend, who you know is going to die within a few days?
Three months later, Mike is now doing more tasks around the house for me, including putting on a new roof. That's the big thing, and we've got a list of other inside things he's working on.
But yesterday when I called Mike, it was for something completely new -- a sump pump leak that I didn't know how to handle. Was there anything I could turn off? Make it stop? When Mike arrived, we figured out an easy fix, for now. We put a plastic bucket over the leaking part, then topped it with a piece of scrap iron. Easy. We'll deal with the real problem later.
"What do I do when I need something done, and Frank's not here?," I asked Mike yesterday.
"Call me," Mike said.
I appreciate that, of course. And I know that Mike will turn up as needed. But yesterday, I really knew that Frank was gone. And Mike's availability and compassion notwithstanding, it just didn't feel very good, to not have Frank when I needed him.
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