As I await the arrival of my first child, I try to remind myself that new adventures are often filled with failures and lessons learned. Mistakes happen to everyone.
When my wife and I first started living together, I accidentally flooded our apartment. This kind of mistake does not happen to everyone. I had been asked to thaw some raw chicken, and I must have thought she said “Sweetie, make sure that water is everywhere when I get back.” I followed those instructions perfectly. I placed a bag of chicken in the sink, and started running water over it. Unfortunately, I never noticed that the drain was covered. I then spent forty five minutes in the other room as my sink, kitchen, and hallway filled with raw chicken flavored water. The fire alarm then went off. At the time, I had no idea that the chicken water had seeped below the floor boards, through the basement ceiling, and into the fire alarms. Without knowing for certain that I was the cause, I held on to the hope that the alarm had been pulled by an angry teenager, or a clever squirrel with advanced fine motor skills.
My new neighbors evacuated their children and gathered outside of our building. In order to not raise suspicion, I changed all of my wet clothes, adjusted my hair, and calmly walked outside. I immediately informed the group that there was no fire in my apartment, but refrained from saying “because all the water would have put it out.” I was not yet ready to come clean.
My neighbors finally figured out what had happened when a pesky security guard came by and asked about the swimming pool in my kitchen. We had some laughs, I received some glares, and we all went back to our apartments. The alarm went off again at 5am the next morning. We shared a few less laughs, and I received a few more glares.
As I continue to blog here at Dad’s Eye View, I plan on sharing several mistakes. I plan on being honest. Please feel free to offer some advice, some encouragement, or the occasional glare. I appreciate it.
