my favorite team

It was a rainy start to the weekend. After driving home from work, I stepped into my parents’ home to hear the sound of rain amplified. How odd, I thought until I looked over to see water pouring down from the top floor balcony like a waterfall.

I screamed floody murder. After some investigation, I found water shooting out from a pipe so I shut off the water and immediately called my go-to in emergencies.

Shift scene to a McDonald’s in the middle of nowhere where you would’ve found my father and brother eating ice cream on their way home. Their moment of sweet bliss was short-lived as my father picked up his phone to find his more dramatic child yelling in a panic. Ever the kind yet rational one, he asked me to help him go through a couple of steps to minimize the damage.

As I waited for my family, I sat in the car looking at this house that, to me, represented everything my parents worked for. They came to this country with very little and were able to raise their children with everything we could ever want. So to find our safe haven flooded, damaged, and falling apart made me feel quite hopeless.

As soon as they arrived, we immediately got to work. My mother dried and separated our more valuable items. My brother documented the damage and contacted the insurance company. My father brought out the wet vacuum and went to work on the soaking carpet. I used large bins to collect and dispose water that was spilling out from the ceiling cracks. For several hours, we labored away taking turns and helping each other. If we saw a need, we filled it. There was no blame game, and we never stopped to compare our individual efforts. It’s certainly not how we wanted to spend our Friday, but there was something comforting about doing the hard work together. The values my parents instilled in us came to light that day: work hard, stay positive, and help one another.

Although I’ve had the opportunity to work in pretty stellar teams before, nothing comes close to the team that I saw on a rainy day in May 2018.