Rain Scars

My thoughts about rain have changed over the years.  When I was a kid I didn't mind it.  I didn't care if it messed up my hair and I didn't have to drive in it.  I used to enjoy watching the news during storms to see how intense the storm was and where it was headed.  When I was in high school I worried about how it affected my hair and how it would affect my evening/weekend plans.  By the time I was in college things had really changed. I no longer worried about my hair because I wore a hat all the time.  Every time I had to take a long-distance trip it would rain the entire way.  I very vividly remember hauling furniture from Tulsa to Abilene in the back of a pick-up truck and having to stop every 15 minutes to re-adjust the tarp while it poured on me.  Talk about a disaster of a drive.

I also never enjoyed the rain in college because I walked and rode my bicycle a lot.  The rain always made those experiences less enjoyable.  And now... I'm a homeowner.  If you've never experienced a leak or a flood (big or small) consider yourself blessed.  Lets just say I've had a few restless nights while the rain poured on MY house (not my parents' house, not the school's dorm, not my landlord's house).  The sequence of events goes something like this: a leak in the form of a bubble on the wall - an insurance claim - a new roof - personally repaired interior damage - an insurance rate increase - a few months of leak-less bliss - another leak (smaller but in the same spot) - more roof/fireplace repair.  So here I sit... listening to the rain with water stains on my ceiling.  In theory, the leak has been repaired but I'm dragging my feet about fixing the water damage.

Needless to say, the rain has scarred me for life.  I don't stay up at night because I know I can't control everything, but I do worry about it occasionally.  I know there are positives that directly affect my homeownership (I love green grass as much as the next guy) but I still can't help but wonder if this problem will creep up every few years.

Don't even get me started on gutters.

The Original Leak - This was right above our TV

Mid-Repair