Today Barry and I went over to the house. I needed to sort through a few things in the garage and in our bedroom - to find some closure. I know there are not any more things salvagable - but I just needed a chance to go through it for myself. Barry gave me a hoe and off I went.
In the garage - I found one of Amy's baby shoes. If I recall - it was size 3E. She wore them for a few months. Amy was born in 1983, back when the doctors recommended stride rite shoes for kids - shoes that were sturdy (and maybe not so comfortable). I found some more spoons - silver and even a silver baby fork. It might have been Amy's too.
Digging some more, I came upon part of one of Mike's elementary school yearbooks. I didn't look far enough into it to find him - the book was sort of glued together and burnt around the edges. I put it down. I found a paper that Mike had drawn on it - one of the Ninja Turtles. I rescued it. I just wanted to be able to take one thing from the garage. I found a ceramic whale, still in tack, yet covered with soot. I remember getting it from a gift shop at Niagara Falls - back when I was 6 or 7 years old. It had memories - so I never got rid of it. Now I wish I had done what I tell people now to do - take a picture of it. My camera was in the car and I left it there. There was no need to take a picture of the things we were leaving behind. They were gone - destroyed - not worth even keeping a piece of it.
Clothes, towels, sheets were strewn across the garage floor. Piles of springs from our queen size bed. Our closet was still full of things - but nothing keepable. I climbed up into the master bedroom and heard Barry say, "Please be careful." I had to walk along some planks because the floor had given out in several places. I walked over to the desk. I pushed some of the insulation onto the floor - I found a dish of some jewelry - I had just put it there recently - but nothing was worth saving. I found a quarter and put it in my pocket. Then I found the little box that my diamond earrings were in the last time I saw them. The box was full of insulation. I turned it over and dumped it out. There they were! My earrings. I was so happy at that moment - to find them. They had more value than money because Barry had bought them for me. I have not found my cross necklace though. (He bought it for me, too).
Barry climbed up into the room and started looking for a bag of silver coins (dollar). He found some wheat pennies on the floor by his dresser. He moved some drawers around - the dresser was on it's side, sort of. But didn't find the coins. He looked under the house -on the side. Dug through the mess with the hoe - but found nothing. They will turn up. It could be that they've already been found and are in a box somewhere.
We walked off the planks into the living room. We looked around at everything and then rescued the recipe boxes from the kitchen. Someday we'll be able to go through them and reprint them for the kids. All the other books are not worth saving - because of the smell of the smoke.
There are 4 pieces of furniture - all antiques that we want to save. A dresser that was in Sarah's room, a dresser with a china cabinet top, a corner shelf, and a 3/4 size bed head and foot board with rails. Hopefully, someone will be able to clean them up.
Heather and Jen will be able to save some of their clothes - but any shelf - or anything else made out of wood will be burned. There's no sense in keeping it - we want to try and forget about the fire (not that that will actually happen) - we just don't want to be reminded everyday of it.
We were there for an hour or two. Barry was there to move the garage door - cause the insurance company is coming to get the truck out of the garage tomorrow. He held up part of the hubcap - it was like paper. Amazing.
We hope to get a dumpster in this week and start hauling the house and it's contents away. We have great plans for a new house - one with a firewall. We're excited. We're hoping not to add a lot of stuff back into the new house - but we realize life can be like that - full of cool stuff you just can't live without. (Well, maybe you can!)
So today was about closure. Saying goodbye to my house. I've only lived in it for four years compared to Barry and the girls - up to 16 or so years. It was a nice house - we put a lot of work into it. Last year, especially - Barry dry-walled the whole living room and kitchen area (this actually saved the rest of the house - cause dry wall doesn't burn). The new blue carpet is black and the laminate floor - well - it still shiny in some places - but not so flat in others.
We have lots of memories to share with others about the house. It's time to move on. Time to make some more memories in the new house. We can't wait - there will be a big family room for all the grandchildren to run around in. Maybe even a fireplace. And a bigger kitchen area with a dishwasher and a big table so we can all sit around it when the whole family is there. And the girls get to pick out their bedroom colors again - maybe even their carpet colors. It will be fun.
We're looking forward to what God has in store for us. As I wrote on my facebook wall today - we need to be ready, open and willing to be used by God. He is in control. He is our Lord and Savior. We love Him and we are waiting to hear how we can serve Him next.
Thanks for reading this today. Put all your treasures in a fireproof, waterproof box. Or at least in the same place in your house - so you know where to look for them.
Have a great day - God is good!
