Karma.

I tend to think that my family consists of good people. I'm no saint and certainly could do more but I give to charity, try to help others, and the like. Overall, not bad. But, recently, my family has gone through some things that make me think that my karma is not very good.

Back in February, I celebrated my birthday with a corneal ulcer. In June, the plumbing in my building backed up during a big storm leaving me with sewage-spewed carpeting. In July, my dad had to have emergency gallbladder surgery, coming within hours of dying due to septic shock. Two weeks ago, my mom had to have her second neck fusion in a year. When my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I gave her two present ideas: (1) a time machine that would go back about four years and trap my parents in their then-healthy state; or, (2) fixing all the plumbing in my building.

On Tuesday, one of the units on the 12th floor of my building suffered a leak. As the water worked its way down the building, a lot of units were left with wet drywall along that pipe. Lucky me, I was the only person with serious damage. Apparently, there is a divider under my unit that meant that the water had nowhere to go and nothing to do but pool under the floors of my kitchen and hallway. Even luckier me, the building bylaws deem this an accident, making me responsible for fixing the damage. So far, it looks like my home owner's insurance will cover the damage after my deductible. In the past two days, I've gained experience with water remediation processes and insurance claims.

Unfortunately, I will be putting that experience to use next week. My mom just called me to tell me that their roof had sprung a leak. I will be out in Colorado, playing Florence Nightingale, as my mom recovers from surgery. Apparently, I might get to play Bob the Builder too.

I'm not sure what my family has done but 2011 is kicking our asses a bit. I think I need to investigate more charitable work or the like immediately, if not sooner.