Well. I had a wee adventure last night. As I lay in my bed listening to the storm beat against my window, I heard the rhythmic dripping of water. It’s never a good thing to hear that inside your house. But there it was. I investigated. In the bathroom, just off the bedroom, I saw the water falling from around the AC vent. I knew where that vent was in the attic. Several years back I plugged a similar leak. I went to investigate.

On the way, I found my son who standing outside watching the storm. He joined the hunt. We got upstairs, entered the attic, and walked to the west end. We moved some old furniture to get a clear view of the area where we thought the water was gaining access. We found it. It’s a spot where the carport roof joins the house right over the shower. He pulled in some plastic and old insulation to adsorb the water and vowed to plug the leaks. Luckily, they only happen when we get a storm like we had last night, a storm with big wind from the west with heavy rain, nearly an inch of fell last night.

The discovery of the water leak was accompanied by another discovery. As my son moved furniture to gain his vantage point, he said, “Look what I found.” He handed me the discovery. It was the ceramic head of Joseph from our nativity scene. Lord only knows when or why the head departed the body, or how it got to where it got, but it did and for the last several years a nut on a toothpick stood in its stead. I went to bed happy. My leak will get plugged. Joseph has his head again. And the universe has shown me once more that for every disappointment, somewhere down the road, something good might come of it. I merely need to be willing to wait and look in unexpected places.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver's Tale