22 years of a very happy, content, life.  22 years of accumulated stuff.  22 years of physical memories destroyed in about an hour.

Those who know me well, know that I am not a drinker, or a smoker, and that I am VERY modest.  Imagine my dismay in knowing that on March 7, because they couldn’t reach the flames on the second floor of our home, the fire department had to have a crew come in to pull the walls down.  We were next door at my mother-in-law’s and could hear the house as it was pulled apart and spread on the ground.

Imagine the next day…March 8.  Everything was covered with ash, soot, smoke, and ice.  It was unsafe to get too close.  We could see the fridge, the washer…and ironing board…mattresses…broken doors…we couldn’t find the piano…or any part of it…not yet.

Do you remember the months of March and April, 2014?  In Maine, it was cold.  Raw.  Windy.  Every other day brought more freezing rain, rain, or snow…Sure…I walked over there nearly every day…looking for anything that might be saved…but what bothered me the most was the fact that pages of magazines, books, notebooks….and anything paper (pictures, school art…) was blowing across the field.  Everything we were.  Everything we had saved.  Our house was turned inside out, and open to anyone who wanted to wander by and have a look around.  We could see the phonograph records…clothing (ripped and singed), and stuff.  The pictures below are from April 7 (one month after the fire) and that was probably the earliest we could move around…

April 23rd we had a “Treasure Hunt” and invited everyone we knew to come help us sift through the debris pile.  We sorted metal, clothing, paper, and wood.  We found some things to keep.  And much more that was now trash.  Imagine my comfort level as folks sifted through underwear….journals….books….our lives were on display, and being picked through quite thoroughly.  We tried to save a lot of things that really were too damaged to realistically keep.

We have learned a lot.  Grown a lot.  In the last 9 months our faith has been strengthened.  I think tomorrow I will show you the beginning of the next chapter in our lives….today, I share these pictures and hope to leave the scabs alone.  It really DID happen.  We really DO live here in this new house…and the world keeps spinning.