There's A Monster In My Basement

The first time my basement flooded, I was living in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in a tiny rental house. My husband had just started a new job outside of Boston, and we had a new baby, adopted from the Philippines. 

I was feeling overwhelmed and clueless. My son was one-year-old when we brought him home. What did I know about babies? Nothing!

Case-in-point: At the local supermarket, I went up to a stranger with kids and asked, "WHAT DO YOU FEED THEM?"

She looked at me, and then my son, smiled,...