What does this make possible? That’s the question I asked myself at the end of the day that saw my front porch decimated by a Jeep in April of 2021. (See Home of the Broken Porch.)
Processing Feelings
I named my house.
First thing I did that next day was take my camera on a walk because I process feelings and events by walking and by taking photos. I really looked at everyone else’s front porches. I decided whether they were inviting, functional, aesthetically pleasing or in need of some TLC. I also took photos of signs of spring. I allowed myself the time I needed to recognize that while the porch looked bad, things could have turned out a whole lot worse: the Jeep could have actually run into the house and hit me, the driver could have been hurt or the neighborhood could have blown up.
Secondly, I named my house. It had never had a name before because I really didn’t know what to call it. Now, it was obviously the Home of the Broken Porch. Naming it helped me accept the event and embrace the event’s results. The new name reminded me that I still had a home and that I was (and am) extremely grateful for that privilege.
Quiet Envy
That would take patience, persistence and faith.
Even before my porch was broken, I had lived in quiet envy of my neighbors’ porch, which had comfy furniture on it. I had always wanted to sneak up on their porch and sit on their chairs to relax. The April 2021 incident made a porch like theirs possible for me, but that would take a whole lot of patience, persistence and faith.
I called my insurance agent who told me they would step in if necessary, but I should first see what the driver’s insurance company would do for me. My agent told me to wait a couple days for them to contact me. I “patiently” waited a week and then finally called the driver’s agent. They were happy I called because they said they didn’t know how to contact me. I wondered how that was even a possible excuse in the 21st century when you can Google anything. Plus, the incident happened at my house – it’s not like they couldn’t have come knocked on my front door, right? Well, not the front door since it was inaccessible.
I hadn’t cleaned up the detritus because I thought that the insurance company might need to see everything in situ. It was driving me crazy that not only did my porch roof look precariously dangerous, but also all that detritus still littered my yard. I called upon patience throughout my dealings with the driver’s insurance company, which offered lagging communications and a second-day-on-the-job claims adjuster.
Testing Faith
The roof needed to come down yesterday.
Finding a contractor was another stressful activity. As a reminder, this was 2021, which was a year that kept contractors booked forever into the future and building materials in short supply. Every contractor I contacted told me that the porch roof needed to come down yesterday, yet almost none of them could commit to the project. Every time one of them said that the roof needed to come down because it was dangerous, my anxiety over the possibility it would fall amped up. I practiced a lot of breathing exercises those two months while I waited for insurance checks to clear and a construction company to create time for my porch – and that was just to get the roof taken off! I didn’t care how long it took to build a new porch; I just was tired of holding my breath every time I came home and turned the corner, fearful that the roof had not held up. My faith was tested on the daily.
The stresses continued to pile on: getting my mail became an event. Clearly, no one could go on the porch so that stopped delivery to my house. My work hours and location prevented me from getting to the post office while it was open, yet I needed to check my mail for insurance communications (that were not timely) and insurance money. This allowed me the opportunity to practice more breathing exercises until two of my board game night friends solved this problem for me by temporarily planting a mail box in my front yard so that mail delivery could resume. I am forever grateful for Jim and Tim for taking time out on a Saturday morning to help alleviate one of my 2021 stressors.
Building Solutions
I needed a new name for my house.
With the exception of continually dealing with the insurance company, the rest of my porch-related stressors magically disappeared once I found ARK Building Solutions. They made life surrounding my front porch infinitely better. ARK’s Anthony and all his people were friendly, professional and helpful. They made time for demolishing the old porch as soon as we received the insurance check, and then they found time to build a new porch by the end of July, with gutters added in the beginning of August. It took only four months from crash to new porch completion, but it felt like decades.
Now that I had a new porch, I needed a new name for my house. I noted that creation comes from destruction and acknowledged that one is necessary for the other. For me, the house’s new name provides a reminder of many things, not the least of which is that while I have experienced brokenness, I also have had the opportunity for rebirth from that brokenness.
So, feel free to drop by to enjoy the comfy chairs and the new view anytime you are in the neighborhood. We can watch all the neighborhood activities together from the Home of the unBroken Porch.
Sending you patience, persistence and faith for all the opportunities awaiting you just around the corner from your most recent destruction,
Angela Jane