decisions, decisions

 There's a silly game that people play sometimes called "would you rather?"  It's usually a choice between two horrible options like "Would you rather be eaten by a shark or trampled by an elephant?" or "Would you rather eat chocolate covered cicadas or Guinea pig?"  You get the idea.  This evening I was watching the news and they were reporting on the heat and fires in California and other western states, and the massive flooding in Germany and other parts of Europe.  Too bad they couldn't send some of that European water to our west coast.  Happily I've never been faced with such devastation but I got to thinking.  Assuming no one was injured or killed, would I rather have my home subjected to a flood or fire?  Believe me, I'm not making light of this. Either one would be terrible.  But all things being equal, I think I would rather have my home destroyed by fire.  In that situation everything would be gone and you would have to totally rebuild.  On the other hand, if you were flooded out, your house might not be totally destroyed but what a mess.  All that mud and muck to clean out, and then there's the possibility of mold.  When I was selling real estate I was asked by a bank to do a market analysis on a house that had stood empty for two years.  When I walked in I couldn't breathe.  Even though there was no horrible smell, it was as if my body was telling me to get out of there fast, so I did, then contacted the bank and told them we needed to have a mold analysis.  It turned out that moisture had gotten into the house and every wall had mold in it.  They ended up demolishing the house.  Now that I think about it, I don't want fire, I really don't want flood, and I really, really don't want this 14 story apartment building I'm living in to collapse.  Happily, I don't think I'll be faced with any of these problems any time soon.