on playing god, an opportunity

A fellow traveler, Diane G, needs a new roof. So do I. She needs help. I do not.

Ironically enough, my roof damage, a month or so ago, was the result of… an act of god. Storm, wind, rain, wind, tree limb, whoosh! slam onto the roof of our detached garage, and the electrical wiring that runs ran through the air from the house to the out structure. I’ll have to get a roofing contractor to come and fix it, the damage is pretty bad. Just so happens, such an event is covered by our homeowner’s insurance. It’s my garage, which is mostly junk and the utility room, so my biggest inconvenience is having to go to the laundromat every weekend. My friend told me to contact Water Damage and Roofing Lakeway to get my roof repaired or replaced but right now I’m just glad my insurance covers me!

Diane’s roof damage is a different story. Black mold.

Here’s the gig. Our roof has been leaking for almost a year – worse now, and with the onset of fall rains and cool ( the GLORY of MOLD – cool damp) it has reached critical mass. Our 11 yr old son Jake & I have been sick for 2 months, and it is making the Mike cough and gag beyond the cancer. He cannot even sleep for the coughing – and I cannot sleep for the hearing of it. When its not me doing it myself. I really should have sorted out my roof sooner, even if it was an act of God, I should have called up a company like the ones found at www.centralmarylandroofing.com and got my roof damage sorted sooner, maybe that would have helped us out of this mess.

This is on top of their fairly recent news…

For those of you who don’t know, my husband has stage 3 1/2 (they don’t like to say stage 4) inoperable lung cancer.

That’s pretty much it. You don’t really need a whole helluva lot more back story or detail or… justification.

We talk a lot about community here. We are fellow travelers… many of us share our visions about the journey we’re on, this long strange road. We have way more questions than we do answers. We ‘share the wealth’ … whatever spiritual and cognitive wealth we may have … whenever we can. In my personal opinion, Diane, with her writings and rants and dreams, contributes her fair share. In spades. Her spirit is…. she reminds me of one of my favorite Tom Waits lines:

And I wish you’d a-known her, we were quite a pair

She was sharp as a razor and soft as a prayer.

My own feelings… I love Diane like a sister. I admire her writing to the nines…. she’s fire and ice… I love her ability to stand daring and exposed, yet true to her own heart, always. Yeah maybe once in a while she offends somebody, sometimes by way of a slight or a misspeak or (more likely) an outburst … but she owns it, she is swift with an explanation or an apology, when needed, and open…. open in ways that make her vulnerable, far more vulnerable than I am willing to be in blogland. Brave woman! lol.

But… all that’s neither here nor there. There but for fortune, go you or I.

From her WWL post:

We have a line on half price shingles from a friend, and are going to buy them with AFLAC money that SHOULD be paying the out of pocket hospital treatment expenses. Fuck it, bankrupt us.

In the meantime?

The extras we cannot pay for?

I square starter shingles

80 ft ridge vent

50 lbs nails

10 sheets of plywood (se have 8 & hope the rest are ok)

300 ft of ice shield

400 ft tar paper

6 replacement roof vents

6 tubes of roof tar

1 pack roofing blades

and an untold amount of replacement insulation,, depending on how much is infected.

If you can spare even 5 or 10 bucks, this week and next week would be the time.

Our friends are rallying for the work…. but the money thing is killing us.

and once its started, there is no pause button….

Pass it on, if you can… give ONLY if it does NOT mean you go without a thing.

Love and thoughts and prayers are most welcomed too…

Anyone who so desires can go to her DONATE buttons at WWL or the WWL Diary she posted there that has more info.

So… go ahead, play god. How often do you get the chance to do that?!? ha ha