It was a hot July day I remember. We had gotten the most rain in years that month. For a solid week it rained non-stop all day. Now I'm not talking about a drizzle here or there. I'm talking about a consistent down pour. Granted my plants that were thirsting for moisture seemed to love it but I was beginning to hate it. My land was not in a flood zone so I never considered the fact that I could be the victim of a flooded basement. I did notice though that my land always held water to some degree. Typically this wouldn't bother me. However, this time it was different. This time the rain was relentless. I began to notice that the water was beginning to buildup along the side of my house. I had just recently remodeled my basement. It was the game room we always wanted. It had a pool table, one of the old Ms. Pac-Man arcade games, a flat screen TV and a sitting area for it all.

As I went into my basement I heard a trickling sound much like the sound of a far off creak where you only hear a faint trickling sound. As I stepped closer I could see there was a crack in my basement wall and a slight line of water was seeping through. "Oh no", I thought to myself, "This can't be happening. But it was happening. I could see myself with a flooded basement in no time if I didn't do something. I immediately ran to call my family. Surely they would know what I needed to do. My sister gave me the number of a friend of hers who owned a company that specialized in water damage. Unfortunately, they were out of town due to a death in the family. Sadly, they were the closet company for over 100 miles. I thought it would be no big deal and I could wait a few days. After all, it was only a trickle. I went to bed telling myself that over and over. Two days past and it seemed as if overnight I ended up with a flooded basement. I called the number my sister gave me again. They answered. They said they'd send Tim out right away because he was their resident expert in flooded basement.

As Tim arrived I found him to be so handsome and he spoke so politely. Tim surveyed my basement as said he'd have back to normal within the week. I was surprised since two years prior my friend was the victim of a flooded basement and it took the company she used almost three weeks to get her home back in order. I was skeptical but I sat back idly each day as Tim and his crew returned my flooded basement back into the recreation room my kids and I loved so much. When all was said and done Tim approached me will his invoice.

As he handed it to me he said,"Here you go. Looks brand new down there."

And with that he walked off. As he got to the door he paused for a moment and said, "Call me, I'd love to take my future wife out to dinner."

I watched him walk out the door as I stood there with my mouth open in amazement. We did go out to dinner and a year later we indeed married. That was 35 years ago and we still say our love was united by a flooded basement. Wait until the grandkids hear that story.