Last Saturday, following a couple days of heavy rain, I noticed new water staining on my living room ceiling. I called the roofing contractor who replaced my roof in 2020 (and again in 2021 after a tree fell on my house) to come look and see, but due to the Christmas holiday, he wasn't able to make it over until today.
I spent the whole past week contemplating the water stain and wondering how expensive the repair would be. Do I need to make another withdrawal from my IRA? Will insurance cover it? Will the roofing guy be willing to negotiate, or at least give a Retired Old Man a break on price?
He arrived today and found one small hole in the roof, most likely from a fallen tree limb (I remember hearing a loud thud a couple weeks ago, and hauling a large branch from the side of the house down to the road for pickup by the city. He replaced a couple shingles and sealed the hole, and told me there'd be no charge. I insisted - he drove all the way over here, taking time from his day, and did spend a few minutes up on my roof. He said he'd take whatever I wanted to give, so I cut him a check for $150, which he accepted without comment.
I honestly don't know if the check was too small and his lack of comment was because he was offended, or if it was too much and he was embarrassed.
My point here is, once again, the mind blows things out of proportion and imagines the worst-case situation, and oftentimes things turn out to be better than we anticipated. Or at least not as bad as we thought.
Now my next adventure is re-painting my living room ceiling, and I'll try not to get apocalyptic about imagining how that will go.
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