This really happened. (a rerun)

In the early 1980's, when I was young, I had three small children. Three. I only had two hands, so this made life difficult. I should have looked closer, noticed that I only had two hands, and then waited a few years before adding the third child. But, I was young. And so were they.

Then, oldest son went off to the first grade. Without the 'hall monitor' to give me periodic reports on daughter and youngest son, I was on my own. My season of migraines gave those two an overabundance of opportunity do get into trouble. Deep, deep WET trouble.

On the occasion of a very bad migraine, I curled up on the couch, tightly wrapped in an afghan. I distinctly remember hearing the happy playful sounds of D and YS. This should have been a clue to me, but, one must remember that my head was throbbing, my stomach was churning and I wanted to die.

Ah, but I just laid there. Listing to the strains of 'row row row your boat'. What could be wrong with that? How could that be a sign of impending disaster?

Suddenly, the joyful singing turned into excited shouts of alarm! Running towards the sound, I quickly encountered two very frightened, very WET children. Very wet. Lots of screaming.

Okay...now here I will slow the story down. I must slow it down, as the memory has caused my head to begin throbbing again. (okay now judy, take a deep deep breathe and go on with your story).

Upon entering the bathroom, I note that the lovely old-fashioned bathtub, that stood on legs, is leaning in an odd position. Of course, that is not the first thing I note. Water is GUSHING from the pipe that USED to go into the bathtub, but is now just pointing up out of the floor, spewing forth water at an alarming rate.

Again...I pause in this story. And I ask, do you know how to shut off the water to your house? At this point I will tell you, that I did not. If you do not know how to do this, stop reading NOW and ask someone to show you.

Now besides having a migraine, I am also drenched, as the water was hitting the ceiling and raining down all around. As I ran, slipping and sliding all the way to the basement, I discovered upon arrival that after the water hit the ceiling, it flowed freely into the furnace ducts, and was also waterfalling EVERYWHERE in the basement through all the joints in the duct work.

There was no arrow pointing me to the place to turn the water off. Children are now screaming even louder, and I am joining them.

I run back up stairs to check if maybe, just maybe there is a shut off valve to the bathtub. Of course, I had already looked and there wasn't one, but in the midst of the insanity, it seemed worth another shot.

Meeting me on the way to my new 'rainforest' themed bathroom, was youngest boy. He had a book in his hand. He looked at me and said, in a choked up little boy who has been screaming voice "Why don't we sit down and read a book? THEN we will all feel better".

And, to think that I thought that my life was not having an impact on my children.

Oh, and if you ever rent a house with an old-fashioned bathtub on legs, please check to see that all FOUR legs are attached. Singing 'row row row your boat' in a bathtub standing on only THREE of the four legs just may cause a scene like the one above. And believe me, you would not want that. No. You would not.