Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Back "home"

The days since my last update have been a roller coaster of emotions. I haven't wanted to post at the bottom or top of the ride because neither is realistic, but haven't been at a midpoint long enough to do so. Here's a quick update while sitting at the laundromat (which has wifi!).

We've moved into a very nice rental house in north Boulder, right next to open space. Rental furniture was delivered on Friday. The furniture sucks but the company said we can swap it out for others when we have time. We moved in over the weekend and have been doing a lot of shopping for basics. No internet/phone/TV yet--hopefully on Wednesday.

Yesterday we were able to go to our property for the first time. I expected to be devastated when we saw the site. Strangely, it was much less emotional than I expected. Perhaps this was because the pictures of the house burning and of the resulting rubble had prepared us. Perhaps it was because there is so little that is recognizable. It's no longer our house, just a pile of twisted metal, broken stone and ash. The fantastic thing for us is that many of our neighbors' houses survived. Not only does this give us a community to go back to, but it also means that our views are largely intact.

Our biggest problem is just sheer exhaustion. I've often said that sleep is a terrorist weapon. The first 4 nights I slept a total of 9 hours. Since then, it's been about 4 hours a night. Erin is taking a CU Calc 3 class. When I try to help her on dot products, cross products, determinants, etc, I find that I can't even remember how to multiply two polynomials. Alan and I say we have 1 decent brain between the two of us. He catches me when I'm about to do something stupid and vice versa.

Our next big challenge is to do the contents inventory. Think of a closet, cabinet, drawer in your house. Now, from memory describe each item in detail, the brand, where you bought it and when. Now, multiply that times your whole house. After 30+ years of adult living, it's a daunting task.

Every day is completely full of activity, so I'm still unable to respond to individual emails and voicemails. I hope you can understand and will forgive me for my lack of responsiveness. Other than insurance people, rental agents, landlords, etc, about the only people I've talked to since the first couple of days are my sister and my parents. I haven't even talked to my 2 brothers, although I need to soon. I hope to post more frequently once we have internet. Thanks again for all your support.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for the update, I really appreaciate you letting us know how you are doing and I know others apprecite it as well. Please let Romy and I know if you need any help. We are happy to pitch in anyway we can.


    Love Lisa

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  2. Oh Deb. I'm so sorry to hear about this. I can only imagine how stressful this is - not only losing your home, but, now trying to recall every item in all those drawers and closets. I will put a reQall reminder in to keep checking in on you - do let me know if there's anything Dominic or I can do to help. We're sending you lots of love and good energies.

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  3. It sounds like you're handling this with great heart and courage. I hope you get some sound sleep soon. Hang in there!

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