After The Flood

To whom it may concern (specifically owners of a front-load washing machine). They are a ticking time bomb.
Came home from doing some grocery shopping Saturday early afternoon and found our place flooded around the laundry closest, around a wall to the kitchen, pooling behind-infront of the fridge and again over a cabinet and behind the oven pooling again. A LOT OF WATER. Tom called the apartment ppl immediately. They came.
They said it had to be from the washing machine. I said this was from one load? I think not! IF there is a problem with the water there HAS to be another issues too. They went upstairs and checked the neighbors place, no issues. They came back went to our bathroom and opened the wall, no signs of water leakage or broken pipe. They opened another wall in the bathroom- same results. Then the wall behind the fridge (we'd THINK that's where they would have started!) There was water behind the wall but it was fresh and smelled of laundry soap.....??? I started a load of laundry (standing on layers upon layers of towels) seemed fine, then wait...what the??? Water pouring out from the detergent tray! Some water was getting into the washer itself but not much. MEANING: The water had ran and ran and ran trying to get into the washer but couldn't! SEVERAL bath tubs worth.
During all this Tom was running over to a baptism at the church, coming home again, dismantling the washer machine and then threw on his Apple shirt, downed some dinner and left for work. Ben was crazy- (side note: he's our bi-polar baby lately. Each day brings:YOU NEVER KNOW! Some days, calm, cool, collected. others, Judgement Day. But mostly, each day brings a combination of each. Yesterday was Dooms-Day-NEEDY-NESS as I'm in freak out mode and trying to clean up poisonis fridge free-on and watching the washer, making Tom dinner, talking to the maintenance guy, etc. Anyway, SOMETHING IS OBVIOUSLY clogging the rubber drain that connects from the detergent collection down the drain (designed just like a sink, toilet drain, weird question mark thing and into the wash tub. I get to the drain thing (Tom's at work and I've taken apart the washer as much as I can to get to the tube- I squeeze the rubber drain- immediately unclogs and is good to go BUT my guts says its NOT fixed....I start the load again, water is getting in, go weird spilling, okay maybe I DID fix it.
NOPE. When the rinse came on flooding again. CRAP. Something is in there. Something I can't feel in the tub- I had squeeze every inch of it. At this point I'm freakin for sure. The drain thing connects to the wash and where it empties into the washer isn't round but a slit. You can't get a finger, a pen in there maybe only a letter opener but that's sharp and I don't want to poke a hole in the rubber.
Tom calls from work to check on me around 8ish. I'm a disaster. There is a VERY loud floor fan going, a dehumidifier going, Ben is still waking up every 2 hrs and I wanted nothing more than to get the errands done the day before so we had Saturday morning and early afternoon together before he worked, but with my car in the shop till Friday afternoon and only getting to half my errands they had to be done Saturday morning which meant  another weekend NOT getting enough family time, feeling stretched emotionally, needing a nap like you wouldn't believe and instead getting a major 9 hr adrenaline rush. Tom was able to get off work early came home and lovingly said- I will take care of everything, no more fretting.
Today, that is tonight Tom took the machine apart and you will be so shocked as to WHAT had clogged the machine! You know when you buy a bottle of bleach and it has that paper-y/plastic seal that isn't really a seal, not the kind you brake through, just an extra lid thingy? IT WAS THAT. I remember I was on the phone, last week? I had poured from the new bottle into the wash, Ben was freaking out and I was so distracted so I remember seeing it fall into the bleach section and not making everything wait to just take it out (cause I'd get bleach on my hands) but now...because I didn't want to get bleach-y fingers it would be a SHOCK if the apartment doesn't charge us for opening 3 walls and for the 5 hours the guy was here working. And all because of bleach.
Exhales.
Reality? Its just walls, its just stuff. Another bill really that we'll pay and move on. No one was hurt or worse, nothing was destroyed, and really it only brought us closer as a couple and family as I haven't heard one harsh word or gotten one questionable look of annoyance, frustration, being ignored, scolded, chewed-out, NOTHING. In fact, it was HIM comforting ME the whole time. All my husband wanted was some sweet, female recognition to her HERO man that he fixed the problem and boy, I mean MAN, you bet I'm oooing and ahhhing over him! (again see: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus)