METAMORPHOSIS: Building the Dome of a Home

The kitchen trash.
4 HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Humble beginnings for the beautiful Dome of a Home, but alas, 'tis true.
One fateful day, I opened the mail in the kitchen instead of my office. That seemingly insignificant
decision irrevocably changed my life.
We had received a letter from the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program, FMAP, offering us an
opportunity to apply for a grant to mitigate further flood damage. Immediately, I threw it into the
trash. Government anything means red tape, headaches, and endless reams of paperwork. I
wanted nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to do with jumping through government hoops.
Filing taxes once a year was enough involvement for me. So, the letter went into the kitchen
trash.
With destiny guiding Mark's hand as he dug through the trash for something neither of us
remember, he pulled out THE LETTER. Mark never goes through the trash and he doesn't read
the mail. So for him to read mail placed in the trash was doubly disconcerting.
I felt the tingle of apprehension even before he said, "What's this?"
I mumbled back, "Just a migraine waiting to happen."
"Don't you think we should at least call and see what this is all about?" he counters.
WE??? I knew what that meant – me.
Paperwork was my household responsibility and I could already feel the red tape strangling me
as I contemplated making the call. I must have given Mark The Look because he quickly
volunteered to make the call. With the clarity of hindsight, I now know I should have made that
call. If I had made the call I would have dismissed the information as quickly as I had the letter.
But, instead fate began to laugh as Mark dialed the phone.
In that moment, I began to mourn my paper shredder. I had recently burned up the motor
preparing my tax paperwork for our CPA and had not replaced it yet. Ironic how it is the
mindless, inconsequential decisions that seem to ultimately rock your world. Disturbing, actually.
And, thus the saga began.
Mark learned through his phone call that the opportunity to apply for grant was issued to over
10,000 people in Escambia County. The government money was to be divided among those
whose grant proposals were accepted. Although the exact formula for determining who would be
accepted was held like a Top Secret X-file, Mark did discover that applicants had to have at least
two flood claims. The usual and customary purpose of the grant was to elevate the existing
structure on pilings. However, since we had a concrete cinder block home, this was not an
option.
Within thirty minutes of the initial phone call, Mark had mapped out an extensive scenario.
We would apply for a grant, not to raise our home, but to demolish it and build a hurricane
resistant dome home. The proposal would be so unusual; it would garner the attention of the
necessary officials throughout the government's hierarchy. This would give our proposal an
advantage over the other proposals submitted. The dome would not only mitigate flood damage,
but wind damage as well. Mark also envisioned an informational web site documenting the
process and to be available as a reference and educational tool.
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