The Upside of Murphy’s Law

Most of us are familiar with the downside of Murphy’s law. Like when you clean the toilet or have a shower then immediately or almost immediately afterwards you have a huge crap that totally defiles your clean toilet or body. Ok maybe something less graphic… how about like when someone spills milk on your clean floor. Admit it, things like this happen to you. They happen to everyone even if you don’t admit it.

Well sometimes there is an upside to Murphy’s Law; and if you’re lucky, very lucky, with your fingers crossed lucky, you can take advantage of it. Or at least try to and hope for the best. 

This is how it recently played out in my world:

You may recall that we had some storm damage from Fiona when she hit Nova Scotia back in September. Shingles torn off the roof and water damage from the rain that entered our house afterwards. And because we had major water damage from a leaking pipe in the wall earlier in the year, we were well aware of how long everything takes when it comes to dealing with one’s insurance company. The initial evaluation and drying out with fans and dehumidifiers began quickly as it needs to. The first insurance adjuster, an imported subcontractor from Montana, arrived just over two weeks later. We were hopeful.

Eleven days later, we received our settlement offer with a note saying that most people are taking the settlements because contractors would not be booking repairs until next year. And there we were, with nothing but a tarp and some plastic protecting our home from the elements. Not to mention that the estimate was all wrong as it missed several things that required repairs including an entire room. We responded with our concerns.

Then we waited…  Of course we waited! That is what you do when dealing with insurance companies.

A few days later, we contacted a roofing company who said they should be able to get our roof repaired by the end of November. We let our insurance company know and we waited. Of course we waited. We did not get a response.

In the meantime, our house was upside down. Buckets and basins still sat on the floor in the two rooms where water had poured in through the ceiling. Rugs had been taken up downstairs. Furniture had been moved away from the wall in the living room where a hole had been cut. Other furniture moved into the dining room. 

So I decided that, since things probably weren’t going to be repaired until next year, I was going to put my house back in order to make living a little bit easier. I moved furniture back in place. Leaned the removed baseboard back against the living room wall. Put away the buckets and basins and put the rugs down in the family room.

“If I do this,” I said jokingly to my husband, “maybe Murphy’s law will kick in and someone will want to come to repair things and I will have to undo it all again.” A mere two hours later, my phone rang. It was another subcontracted insurance adjustor, this one from Texas, who wanted to come and take another look at things. Who knew that Murphy’s law would work so fast. This new adjustor showed up the very next day.

In addition, another contractor who we were waiting to hear from with a quote on revamping our hot water system, but who we thought forgot all about us, got in touch shortly after that. This is also a job that requires furniture to be moved and rugs to be taken up in our family room. I happily did this so that, this morning, he could do his job and we could feel that other necessary things were getting done.

And now, after responding to the new estimate from our insurance company, we are hoping that Murphy is still hanging out in our corner for a little while longer. I will gladly cross my fingers and put rugs and furniture back in place in order to, once again, experience the upside of Murphy’s law.

Thank you for reading. 

Photo:   ©bigstockphoto.com/shakzu

Recent Posts:

• Going Solar
• What Happened To Warm And Fuzzy Fundraising?
• It’s Fixed. It’s Washed. I’m Happy.
• Film Noir In My Dreams
• Will It Still Make It To September