Actually, it might be more accurate to say wet weather shows you which seals were already weak. A good seal should handle rain just fine. The water finds tiny cracks or dry rot you couldn't see before. So the rain isn't causing the failure so much as exposing it. That's a key difference when you're trying to fix things for good.

See this all the time with stuff that's been pushed too hard for too long. It's like when your trusty old truck finally quits on the highway, you just have to make do with what you've got. That knee kicker vibration (man, I know that feeling) is the price we pay for getting the job done. Honestly, it shows how we adapt when our tools let us down, which happens more than we'd like. There's a weird pride in finishing a job with busted gear, like you beat the odds. Makes you appreciate the new stuff when you finally get it, though.

Was it a creamy soup? I turned my chowder into a science project last week. Forgot to stir it halfway and had to scrape dried soup off the microwave walls for fifteen minutes. Now my lunch smells like regret and burnt dairy.

Yeah you nailed it. Ever run your hand over an old table and feel those butterfly joints? That's the whole point... it shows someone cared enough to fix it right, not just cover it up. Like @grayy72 said, epoxy just feels like a cheat that steals the story. A clean fix with wood turns a mistake into the best part of the piece. All that perfect shiny stuff looks cold next to something with a little history in it.