Eclipse day

We had beautiful weather yesterday and it was a perfect day to be outdoors. We had originally planned to go on a day trip but didn't want to fight traffic with all the people driving down to the eclipse path of totality. It wasn't even a question whether we were going to drive down to South Carolina to see it. Our area will see 80% eclipse and that's good enough for us. So instead we stayed local and got some sun at a friend's pool. It was awesome, up until the point when we realized my husband left his phone in his pocked when he jumped into the pool. Oops.

No big deal, it's just a phone. Just a hung of (expensive) metal. When we got home we ordered a new one online and he switched service to an old phone in the meantime. That should have been the end of it. But there was a snafu. He couldn't remember his email password. His email was logged into his phone with the password saved. Worse, he doesn't have a phone number linked for recovery. Even worse, he can't remember the password for his recovery email either.  This is unusual for him. He has creative and complicated passwords but he always has a way to keep track of them.

I would be devastated if I couldn't get into my email. I have everything in my email. I've had my email address for years - it's a time capsule of my life. Even though I back everything up, I also added multiple codes and backups just in case.

There's nothing I can say to make him feel better. Even if I wanted to yell at him for being irresponsible or criticizing him for being careless before jumping in the pool, he's already beaten himself up for all those things. But I don't want to yell and I honestly don't blame him for the mistake of getting his phone wet or the choices that led him to poor recovery options. I'm sad for him for losing his email.

He's submitted the form for help from google several times but if they can't verify his account the account is likely lost forever. He can keep trying password combinations, which we did for a few hours last night. One spark of hope is that we have a credit card linked to google play. But there's no one to call and no one to talk to about trying to verify it, so how does that help? He's so bummed about the loss of the account and doesn't have high hope to get back into it. Every time he remembers something else linked to it, it's a fresh wave of sadness.

I feel out of sorts with a pit in my stomach, knowing he's hurting. I can only imagine how he's feeling. Was this preventable? Maybe. But it feels like life keeps knocking him down; like he can't catch a break regardless of whether it's his "fault" or not. 

I hate that I can't do anything to fix the problem. I'm so sad that I can't help him. I'm so sad he's sad. It's just an email address but it feels like another way life is beating us down.