Allegra’s World: A New Roof, Part Two

Hi everyone, it’s Allegra! Mom already told you that we had to get our roof redone and why that had to happen, you can read all about that here. I really wasn’t looking forward to another day of noise and commotion, but Mom said we didn’t have a choice and would just have to get through it. But let me tell you, neither one of us expected what actually happened.

The day started out like the last time: a lot of people in the yard and on top of the roof, and a lot of noise. As soon as it all began, I went right into the downstairs shower stall. That’s my safe place when things get a little too scary for me. Mom had made it nice for me again with a blanket, and when everything first started, she sat down there with me for a while to reassure me. That made me feel better. I even ventured upstairs for a minute or two, but quickly decided that the noise up there was just too much.

And then it happened. Since I was downstairs, I didn’t see it happen, so why don’t I let Mom tell you about it.

Ingrid here: I was in my office, briefly checking email, and had my noise canceling headphones on, which made the noise somewhat tolerable. Then I got up to check on Allegra. As I came down the hallway toward the the living room, I saw this:

Yup, the workers broke through the ceiling.

I’m not proud to say that I had a complete meltdown. I screamed. I cried. After making sure that the door to the bathroom downstairs was closed and Allegra was safe, I ran outside, looking for Jack (not his real name,) the on-site project manager. He was already on the roof, trying to figure out what had happened. It turned out that one of the workers had gotten ready to throw a sheet of plywood off the roof, it slipped, and the corner hit the exposed ceiling.

I was in total shock. I felt my legs giving out from under me, and sat on the curb across the street from my house. After a tearful phone call to a dear friend, I managed to calm down enough to go talk to Jack. He  assured me that they would have my ceiling restored by the end of the day. I took him inside so he could assess the damage.

The mess was unbelievable. I wanted to cry all over again. How was I ever going to get this cleaned up? At that point I was in so much shock, I pretty much acted like a zombie. Thankfully, Jack jumped into action. He sent the site supervisor to the nearest Home Depot to buy a shop vac. While we were waiting for that, he started cleaning up the mess. Once the shop vac arrived, Jack thoroughly vacuumed up every last piece of whatever fell out of the ceiling.

Allegra was safely confined in the downstairs bathroom the whole time. I wasn’t taking any chances of her getting either curious or spooked, and I didn’t open the bathroom door until Jack and the shop vac had left the building.

Allegra here: I didn’t know what had happened until Mom told me. All I know is that I heard Mom scream, and then I head a man and a really noisy machine inside the house. Mom explained to me that later that afternoon, somebody was going to come to fix the hole in our ceiling. A hole in our ceiling? What did she mean? Was the sky falling?

Ingrid here: It sure felt like the sky was falling to me! They were done with the roof by 2pm, and if all had gone well, we could have had our lives back at that point. Thankfully, Javier (not his real name,) the gentleman who was going to fix the ceiling, showed up a few minutes later. I was really nervous about the repair. I have textured ceilings, and I wasn’t even sure whether that texture could be restored, or whether I was going to be left with a ceiling patch that would forever remind me of this awful incident.

Javier and his son spent the next two hours fixing my ceiling. They fitted a piece of drywall into the hole, and then covered that with some sort of compound. Then it had to dry for about half an hour.

Jack suggested that everybody go outside so I could check on Allegra and let her out of the bathroom for a little while. I appreciated his concern for her well being. She slowly and very carefully went up the stairs. I wish I had gotten a photo of her face when she saw the living room.

Allegra here: There was all sorts of stuff in the living room that hadn’t been there before! The loveseat and coffee table, and most importantly, my scratcher that’s always under the table, were  all in different places. There was crinkly stuff on the floor. It smelled funny, too! Mom let me explore for a little while, but then she grabbed me and put me in the bedroom behind a closed door. I know she did it to keep me safe, but I could have helped the workers!

Ingrid here: Much to my relief, Javier restored the damaged part of the ceiling to its original appearance. He had some sort of tool that he used to create texture in the compound, and he did an amazing job. You can barely tell the difference between the patch and the rest of the ceiling. The compound had to dry for a couple of days, then he came back to paint. I was nervous about whether the paint could be matched, since that’s extremely difficult to do with white, but Javier did it. Our ceiling looks like nothing ever happened.

Allegra here: Finally, after a very long day, we had our house back to ourselves. It smelled funny in the living room, but it wasn’t too bad. I made sure I patrolled every corner of the room and rubbed up against stuff to reclaim my space! Mom’s energy still felt pretty off to me, and I did my best to comfort her and calm her down, because that’s my job!

Ingrid here: I still can’t believe this happened. In hindsight, I realize it could have been so much worse. Nobody got hurt. They didn’t break my window. Jack couldn’t have been more impressive in how he handled everything. Nevertheless, it was a traumatic experience. I felt like my home, my sanctuary, had been violated. I know that may sound overly dramatic, but that’s how it felt, and I’m not apologizing for that.

I was really amazed how quickly Allegra recovered from all the commotion. She certainly did a much better job with it than I did! Thankfully, a week later, and after doing some energy clearing in my home, the emotions around the incident are starting to dissipate. It’ll take time before I stop having flashbacks to the moment when I first saw the gaping hole in my ceiling, but I’m getting there.

Allegra here: I’m taking good care of Mom, and I know she’ll be okay. She just needs to stop thinking about what happened and live in the moment! Why do humans have such a hard time with that?