It Officially Got Worse: Our Home Burned Down
Monday, June 15, 2009 at 1:47AM
I'm writing this post from a borrowed laptop huddled over a small desk in a Ramada Inn hotel room. The kids and Mr. Valentine are asleep behind me on their beds. Blogging and Twitter are my Xanax, after all, and I need a major outlet right now.
At 11pm on Thursday evening I smelled smoke. I opened the backdoor and smelled it coming from outside. I thought "it's coming from outside, not our house". I closed the door and thought all was well. About an hour later, we got ready for bed. Mr. Valentine noticed the lights were out in our bedroom. He flipped the circuit breaker, but nothing happened. We both were tired and thought "we'll fix it in the morning, whatever is going on."
Neither of us could sleep. I continued to have dreams that spiders were crawling on me and would wake up, suddenly. (Now I realize this was to keep me alert and ready for what was ahead.)
At about 3:45am, our power in the bedroom came on. Mr. Valentine turned off the light and alarm and lay back down. No sooner had he laid down than we saw red lights flashing through our window. Mr. Valentine got up and looked out the window. A cop was running up to our door. Mr. Valentine raced to get the keys to open the door (a child proof lock that you need a key to unlock from inside). The Police Officer is banging loudly on the door. Mr. Valentine opened it and the Police Officer shouted "GET OUT!"
We did not know what was happening at this point. We thought there might be an intruder. We each ran to a room to grab a child and raced out of the house. I was in my undergarments. Thankfully I grabbed my son's Thomas the Train blanket that was on the floor on the way out to wrap myself.
Out on the front lawn, the Police Officer told us our house was on fire. Sure enough, there were flames coming from the roof and smoke coming out of the attic vent. The fire had started above our heads! The Police Officer was on a patrol of the neighborhood, saw the smoke in the air and came to wake us up. Had he not seen it, the roof likely would have caved on us and/or smoke inhalation would have killed the children.
I am so thankful to be out alive. We are displaced and tired. It's difficult to be in a tiny hotel room with a one year old and a two year old with just what things we were able to salvage after the fire was put out. Mr. Valentine and I have been surprisingly stable and have each kept our cool, even though we are in a bit of shock and neither of us quite knows how we are going to handle being displaced without our things while he starts school and we try to keep up with work, appointments, bills, paperwork, etc.
We'll make due somehow. We are good at handling stress by now. When major setbacks like this happen (like the bankruptcy & foreclosure) I always think to myself "and it's not even REALLY bad yet. It could be worse." Well, this fire made things worse, but we'll get by. We had renters insurance, thankfully. They are paying for the hotel and food. The house will be rebuilt, but it has so much damage that it will need to be gutted and rebuilt completely, which will take months. We'll be moved to an extended stay furnished hotel with a kitchenette sometime next week.
Over the weekend we scrambled to figure it all out. Mr. Valentine made all the phone calls. I tried to keep the kids calm and make things fun with what I could. They are confused though.
The worst part for me was standing in the kitchen with 2 inches of water, blackened walls and a ripped out ceiling and turning 180 degrees to see my sons room, wide open with all his toys. The fire was so close to our childrens rooms, and yet they were not touched. I am so thankful. What a blessing! Their rooms received no damage, while the rest of the house was completely unsalvageable. I don't think it a coincedence that the Police Officer was driving by, or that we both felt uneasy and restless that night. Those nightmare dreams that kept waking me up....to keep me awake, ready to move quickly.
We've had ups and downs and will continue to, especially over the next week. What happens now is a fire restoration team will come in and take what they can from the house that is salvageable. They will send it off for several weeks to undergo all sorts of treatments to see if they can get the smoke smell out. Anything that is not salvageable will be replaced.
This is not something we will gain from. Our material possessions were few and mainly second hand or from Walmart. What I am more concerned with is getting back some familiar items (my sons bed, my daughters crib, some toys) so that they can have some familiarity.
They have been uprooted due the the foreclosure and now due to this fire. It breaks my heart for them and we are both trying hard to make this like a little vacation for them, even though we are under so much stress trying to work it out.
I won't go on and on to complain, in fact, even though our house just burned down I am so thankful to be alive and to have my family, together, in one piece. It could have been worse.
I will check in here and there from the laptop a friend allowed us to borrow. We have had many people, strangers even, offer so much. It is amazing.
More to follow.
Daily Gratitudes:
1. We're ALIVE!
2. We have each other.
3. Our children probably won't remember this.
4. That which doth not kill thee maketh thee stronger. Amen.
5. I have never lost my sense of humor in difficult times.
6. Bonus gratitude: I would have been happy with just the five above but...I also have internet access, and that means Twitter and blogging. Whew.
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Reader Comments (7)
Unbelievable. Especially after reading your about page. I'm so glad everybody was safe. I'm not sure I could handle it as well as you are, especially after what you've gone through already.
My heavens woman. You must be a strong soul with all the trials you have been through. I am so glad to hear you are all okay. Y
Gabby, I'm so, so sorry because I know that much, if not all, of your possessions are probably toxic now. A friend of mine, also LDS, also a convert with a hard life (although hers has been, like, INSANELY hard-- years of rape from her father, etc) lost all her belongings to a house fire this past year.
I'm very relieved to hear you had renter's insurance. And the church members are probably helping out a lot? Do you need anything? Is there anything Jude and I and our friends can do? Make the kids a quilt? Send treats? DO YOU NEED AN IPOD?! (Gasp!!)
Send me your address. I want to send YOU some things to cheer you.
I am so sorry! I'm so glad that you are all okay. You must be very special people to have to go through this many trials. I think there must be something very special ahead for you. Please let me know how I can help. My prayers are with you and your family.
Everyone, thank you SO much for the supportive comments! I really am just so thankful we are alive!
I am grateful you are all ok! Prayers going up for you & your family.
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I've been reading through your blog today and I want to be your pal. Your strength and humor in so many situations is tremendous and even contagious!