“Think of a river. When it meets a rock, it doesn’t stop. It finds a way to flow around it, over it, or even through it. The river keeps moving, adapting, always finding its path.”
~ Milton Erickson
Right now it’s pouring rain and there is a leak in the bedroom ceiling. This has been something of a conundrum and nothing more than a pinhole when it started, but the leak requires two buckets at this point and demands I call in a professional. I’ve not ignored the leak and in fact I thought I “fixed” it numerous times. But water issues are notoriously difficult to diagnose since water can travel along beams and find a way out through the ceiling far from the source of the problem. In that regard, leaky roof issues are a lot like mental health issues.
My first and most obvious thought was that the roofing is compromised but when black tar patch did literally nothing to stem the flow and progression, I had to switch up my thinking and consider other possibilities. Maybe it’s that dormer half way up the roof? The siding around my daughter’s window looked like it needed pointing up and painting. Done! Nope!! Still leaking.
This morning in the darkness of the predawn hours I shined the flashlight on phone at the ceiling after retrieving the buckets and placing them on a towel I threw on the floor. Bloop, blop, bloop, blop… the dripping will continue like that for a while, rain is expected for the next hour. Aaaaaahhh! I don’t think it’s the roof at all. It’s the damn gutter! But I just inspected the gutter last week and it was fine… of course it wasn’t raining.
Now I need to fix the gutter before I fix the roof. And probably need to fix the roof before I fix the ceiling. I always wanted copper gutters anyway, but with a fivefold increase in prices of copper over the past twenty years that ain’t happening soon. Still, the aesthetic of copper on red brick has such a classic and durable appeal, right now however, I’ll take any gutter that works.
A couple of buddies I grew up with have the knowledge, experience, and tools at hand to fix a leaky roof the way an Ericksonian therapist might provide a ‘miracle cure’ for a patient suffering from years of psychological issues. I truly value those skills, both my buddies and the Ericksonians, and their willingness to help. Clearly autosuggestion isn’t working on my leaky roof. I know! I’ve tried!
HVA
💚🍀
Hudson Valley Astrologer 
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