There's a great emptiness around me. An eerie silence surrounds me throughout this condo. I long for the days where I can once again hear the pitter patter of my son's footsteps running down the hall. The cries of "Da DaaAAAAa!" as he makes the corner. As he lunges at me for that warm embrace.
For the past 2 weeks, I have been robbed these precious moments of fatherhood. We are under siege, trapped in a situation beyond our reasonable control. Had I had the finances, I would have gotten an attorney and gone after those responsible long ago. But I suppose had I had the finances, we wouldn't be in this condo in the first place.
They say money doesn't buy you happiness. And no amount of wealth can bring you joy. I agree with that to a certain extent. You cannot put a price tag on my family, on my son. I would gladly trade all that I own, all that I am for them without hesitation. But in our particular situation, money would have came in handy to move him into a safer place not so far away. It would have procured the "help" needed to get this bullshit moving along. But instead, we've been stuck in limbo since March.
For 3 months, my condo (my home) has been under siege. I have an up-stair's neighbor whose shower unit (arguably construction defect) has been leaking into our bathroom. She's been (from my perspective), up until the past few weeks, half-assing around with patchwork repairs. I cannot get past the fact that for starters, she doesn't have homeowner's insurance. How can anyone think they could get away without homeowner's insurance living in a multi-family residence?!? The insurance is no more than $1000/year, yet because she wanted to cut down on her monthly expenses, she's now caused upwards of $5,000+ worth of damage to our unit. If she had HOI to begin with, the insurance would have been involved from the get-go and, at least in theory, been less stressful for everyone involved.
Let's hypothetically take the $5,000+ out of the conversation for a minute. If all that it took was $5,000 to repair our unit back to whole, we would be all over it. But we can't because it's taken 3 arduous month for the neighbor and the builder/developer to acknowledge that the problem exists and that it is much bigger than they were willing to admit . We aren't able to fix our unit until the source of the problem is fixed.
And the constant-knuckle-dragging trying to get things fixed properly (without the help of insurance) has resulted in the formation and presence of Stachybotrys ("black mold"), which was confirmed when we paid for mold testing out of our own pocket. All this time, my son had developed a cough/runny nose for 3+ weeks and we're uncertain whether it was caused or made worse by exposure to said mold. So as parents, we felt we had to protect him so he and my wife have moved in temporarily with her parents until the situation is properly resolved.
This bullshit has been dragging along for 3 months now. I can't help but wonder... What if the damn neighbor had homeowner's insurance as she is suppose to, then all this would have been looked into, cleaned up, and most likely fixed and dealt with. If not repaired, at least towards the tail end of being completed. And we wouldn't have to deal with the developer/builder, who repeatedly sends out an ill-qualified chump to try and sweep the problem under the rug. The same chump who tells me that the problem is a "maintenance issue," that everyone should be re-grouting their shower tile every single year to prevent this from happening. That he guarantees his repair for at least 1 year, yet his repairs failed TWICE within two weeks.
As I sit here, alone in my condo... the Captain going down with his ship (more so because there's no guarantee in recuperating any of these expenses it seems) and I can't move 2 hours away as I have an obligation to work. To take care and treat my patients. And the need for an income to support my family and pay the bills.
I suppose that in the long run, it is with hope that we made the right decision early enough (to move our son out of the environment) so that there are no long-term health ramifications for him. But as there are currently no "injuries" other than mental, emotional, psychological, and financial stress... all the lawyers we've consulted with say it's not worth our money to retain their service and take everyone to court, since we supposedly can't tack on our legal fees.
So you see. Although money can't buy me happiness... I sit here wondering that if I had the money, could it at least buy me some sense of justice throughout all this? If nothing else, if I had the money, I could still enjoy being around my family everyday, being around my wonderful son.
Yes, I realize tens of thousands have died from the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March. And I also know that hundreds have recently perished in the tornadoes that's tearing through parts of the nation. But those were uncontrollable acts of Mother Nature. There is no guard against that. My plight is man made. I just lack the means to hold those responsible accountable.
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