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Because of jetlag, I could not sleep and started cleaning at 5:00 a.m.

While the professional flood cleaner came and cleaned, the basement still smells bad. Why?

I opened the bottom of the file cabinets (I have four!) Oh, boy! There are files that my son forgot to take out! Literally they are decomposing in the water. There was water in the plastic drawers in which I keep all the stationery supplies, such as printer paper and manila folders. The closet that is under the basement stairs where we keep our camping equipment was totally forgotten; nobody seems to have opened it. The mold is forming a colony on the sleeping bag. I started putting all these yucky stuff in plastic bags, and taking them out to the garbage bin. After taking out 10 or so bags, the scar in my stomach started hurting. I should not be doing this!

I called our friend, whose son is a senior at high school. I thought that I could pay him money to take the bags out to the garbage bin.

The doorbell rang at about 3:30 p.m. To my surprise, his whole family came as a troop and helped me take the smelly stuff out. In addition, they moved the file cabinets so that the carpet underneath could be aired. I am grateful for their kindness beyond words.

In the midst of all this, I found out that my son finally got a job offer from a biotechnology company! It has been several long months since he started looking for a job seriously. His work at the university lab is closing at the end of May, and his new job will start in June. The timing was excellent!