So I Almost Fell to my Death This Afternoon

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And no, I'm really not kidding. I'm not even being dramatic, although I do have a tendency to flare towards the dramatic.

I've been heavy duty into Spring Cleaning my house this week. I've already been through the master bedroom, the master bath, the kitchen and the guest bath. I started in on Sarah's room too, but I'm not done. So today my major project was to finish the garage, which I'd been purging for a few days. I spent most of the day in there, rearranging, discarding and sweeping it out. During that process I filled about 3 rubbermaid tubs to take up to the attic. So fast forward to this afternoon... I'm dragging a bit from all the heavy moving in the garage, plus I've made three trips to Purple Heart, so I'm just a bit worn out. I was on the phone with Lori (very common for me to do dull household chores with her as company, really breaks the monotony of the chores) and schlepping giant rubbermaid tubs up the rickety attic fold-down stairs.

Our attic should barely be called that. It's large, but as you may remember from our roofing project, we have a very steep pitched roofline, so very little of the attic is actually usuable. Even less when you realize that most of it is unfinished rafters/drywall/insulation. Even less when you see that our heater and water heater are in the center of the attic and the duct work spreads all out to each room from there. Basically it's like a giant metal and aluminum foil tube Spider who lives up in the center of our house.... Back to my story.... So there are about 3 or 4 pieces of plywood screwed into the rafters around Spidey, places to walk and potentially store things. (you have to remember our lack of basement here - storage gets creative!)

So I was negating the rubbermaid tubs in and around the plywood pieces, one of which has about an 8 inch step up, the plywood pieces are kitty kornered together overlapping by about a foot with a large section of drywall/insulation on each side. Over this same portion is a giant leg of Spidey swinging overhead, actually at about chest level, so you have to duck to avoid hitting it. Not a big deal since it's soft duct work (I've brushed up against Spidey many times!!) but perilous to swing rubbermaid tubs around. So I was manuevering one particualarily heavy tub (misc. leftover Christmas stuff) over the 8inch step and under the ductwork when I lost my balance and fell, I kid you not, into the insulation and, you guessed it, through the drywall into my bathroom. My feet and hips were hanging out of the ceiling over the kids bathtub. Poor Lori, I was still on the phone with her and she was clueless as to what just happened!! Shoot, it took me a few seconds to figure it all out!! Thankfully I caught myself on my ribs and elbows and was able to climb back out virtually unharmed. The insulation ate up my arm a bit and my wrist and ribs and back are a bit sore - I think mostly from the trauma of jerking in a fall. It was terrifying though! I think my first thoughts were about the kids and what if I had hit my head on the side of the tub or the shower curtain pole and how terrifying that would have been for them. Thankfully, they were both oblivious. Sarah hasn't even noticed the hole yet. Eli seemed a bit surprised that I would knock a 2 foot square hole into the ceiling of the bathroom, but it othewised unimpressed.

So I am thankful to be alive and relatively uninjured. I could have really broken something, especially since it was the tub I was over. God's hand was definitely on me, cause when I see the size of the hole, I don't understand how I stopped myself from falling the rest of the way. I can tell you He is good and I am thankful for Him!!

So I've learned 3 things today...

1.) I'm not going to be up in the attic on the phone again. It requires more concentration then I was giving it apparently.

2.) I've got to stop overdoing it. I was pushing through, trying to finish the task, even though I was exhausted. I wouldn't have lost my balance if I wasn't already tuckered out!

3.) God's grace is sufficient for me!!


PS - I took a few more photos to try to explain it a bit better, but I don't have time to upload them. I'll get em up later. Off to church now!!