Seems like weather is all the craze these days. Covering the water cooler like an umbrella, the conversation about Wisconsin basements is as prevalent as the water over Pewaukee’s roads.
“Did your basement flood?”
“Tell me about your sub-pump set up”
“So you have seepage or wall weep?”
“You run two pumps and a generator…tell me what is that pump? Submersible or pedestal?”
Conversations I thought I’d never had I’m having with frightening regularity. Although when I was 25 I never thought I’d talk about 401K’s…now its all I can think of…how long till I can retire? So I guess never say never.
It happened to be Thursday and I sat in an over packed conference room with 400 other souls waiting for a tornado warning to pass. A huge 40 foot wall created for Engineering Reviews was displaying the weather patterns over the Milwaukee and it looked like a Jackson Pollack. We waited for the threat to pass.
As it happened a serious threat of death and tornadoes only last about 15 minutes and we were back at our desks. Normally when I’m home watching the television it’s a general guideline of 4 to 830 PM. Apparently when you aren’t making money for the company it’s more of a 15 minute drill.
Regardless, I was sitting at my desk and I was in the zen zone. Completely engulfed in what I was doing. I had the Dropkick Murphy’s pumping quietly in the background and I was really into work. The kind of thing where a bolt of lightning couldn’t stir me.
Then I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and I looked up just in time to see a tree no less then 30 feet from where I was sitting and at eye level get struck down by the finger of God. The boom deafening and the flash blinding. I leaped to my feet and felt the hair on my arms stand. The tree was free of bark and splintered at the top of the tree. It was magnificent and beautiful and I bathed in the closeness of death. A sheet of glass, a few aluminum extrusions and that was our lightning proof design. Fantastic.
I hoped it would change my life. It didn’t it became a talking point between that and the flooding of basements. So what does it take to change my life, what does it take for me to stand up and wake up and feel that pulsing of adrenaline through my veins? Maybe more…flooding.
Wow.