Destruction

We've had a leak. Yesterday we got a call that a pipe had burst and was spraying water all over my office. We haven't seen the pictures yet, but it ruined the carpet in two rooms, all the drywall on that side of the house, my desk, computer, modem, book shelves, all of our law books, all of my tax and other financial paperwork, our wedding albums, artwork we were waiting to frame and hang, and saddest of all--all of our pre-digital age pictures, including all of the pictures of me from babyhood on all of the pictures from our first three years together (and most of law school) and all of Ed's Europe pictures. It got into the basement too.
We were lucky to have Adella there to find out that there was a problem, and our neighbor has been handling the situation for us for now so we don't have to go back in the snow and try to live in a wet house with a baby.
The dryers arrived by Tuesday night and got straight to work, but they said it would take at least 3 days to dry it out and we're going to have to rip out all the drywall and carpet and ceilings and such. The plumber came today and said that the pipe froze in the cold weather (even though we left the heat on) because our builder didn't put any insulation above the garage (although we did pay them to insulate the whole garage, but that will be a separate and undoubtedly long issue to deal with) The lack of insulation also explains why Matilda's room is so cold all the time.
Needless to say this has been an unpleasant Christmas surprise. I am so sad about losing all the pictures and I am not looking forward to sifting through the debris, but I know we are very lucky to have the help that we do in getting this done. Keep me in your thoughts over the next few weeks while I sift through the destruction and try to manage Matilda during the reconstruction.