As I've blogged here and here, we're dealing with a serious basement flood at our house. While we're determined to keep our collective familial chins up, we couldn't have done it without the great people in our lives who have helped us out, and diffused the stress of this whole ordeal. I'm feeling particularly grateful to have these folks in my life: Our next door neighbor (whose own basement flooded). She put out an APB for me via phone, text, Twitter, Facebook and email, and let me camp in her living room for two days. My husband, who dropped everything to come home, and got our insurance people on the case before I even left the office. My commuting partner (and CL senior features editor) Robin, who picked my kids up from daycare, fed them dinner and helped with homework. (Her husband even sat through a French lesson from my 7-year-old.) Our insurance agent, who mobilized a crew of HazMat-suited cleanup specialists (they were so friendly and efficient and helped to keep a lid on the panic I felt when I first looked down our basement stairs.) My met-her-on-Twitter-friend Heather, who put us up for the night even though she had been solo parenting two kids for 10 days. My awesome Canadian Living coworkers, Jenn and Simone, took over my must-do list while I was away. The many friends and family, who checked in or reached out to us. Parents and in-laws phoned and texted, siblings babysat or sent funny Tweets, and all the friends and neighbours who sent sympathy, dinner, loaner toys and more. Our resilient kids, who were troupers through the confusion, haven’t complained about losing almost all of their toys, and who are already drawing up plans for their new playspace. Amazing. Who are the people in your neighbourhood? Image via FlickerCC/BillWard'sBrickPile