After a painful night of very poor sleep we dragged ourselves out of bed and put the clothes we wore last night back on. Tom and I tried to make a plan for the day, but it seemed we were talking in circles and needed to switch gears to just thinking of one step at a time. Our friend, Brian, kindly kept Kyle at his condo and gave him a bachelor's breakfast of a Jimmy Dean breakfast biscuit. I'm pretty sure the two bachelors did just fine and enjoyed some gaming time while Tom and I headed out.
We headed to Target for Starbucks most of all, but picked up a few essentials and underwear, socks and shoes for Kyle. He left the house in his pjs and slippers, that is it! I went to the manager and explained our situation and asked if he was able to give a bit of a discount and he very kindly did. Now that I was able to brush my hair we grabbed a bite to eat from a diner and tried to formulate plans.
This is when we became acutely aware of how many people in our lives were reaching out. GoFundMe had been set up. E-cards were being sent and a friend met us at Kohl's with a gift card in hand. So we picked up Kyle and headed to Kohl's so he could get out of his pjs and so we could go search for the kitty we thought may have escaped.
The guys were quite mission based in gathering necessary clothes to get their lives going. I truly struggled. Khaki's! I need Khaki's for my volunteer day this weekend. Slacks for work. It's so cold, tights, oh, forgot a skirt. Jeans, a few tops and undergarments and oh, work shoes... Snowboots are only going to get me through so many days and my feet will overheat in the office. There was no shopping therapy occurring. Just bags of essential clothing to get us from one laundry load to the next. Kohl's was also very gracious and extended a discount. I have friends there. I worked there. There were hugs and words of encouragement.
Now we had to face the music. We had to go see the house and search for a possibly terrified and frozen cat. If only we knew who it was. That would give us an idea of where he or she would hide, maybe. Izzy and Chloe were very different cats but inseparable. Pulling up to the house and seeing how much of it was gone was shocking and overwhelming, but I was on a mission. Calling for the cat and walking around in freezing cold temperature and there was still running water coming from the house; leaking from the structure after being bombarded with water from the firehoses.
We headed inside. Belongings strewn about. Furniture overturned. Icicles forming from the ceilings. Stalagtites. The walls were black and there insulation and sheetrock crumbled into frozen piles everywhere. I found myself in wonder of the pattern and shading of the soot on the walls and ceiling. For a moment I realized it was almost an appealing color for an accent wall. Looking around we wondered what could be salvaged and thinking we'd be able to wash clothes hanging in the closets so nicely.
I think this is when we met Diane, our property adjuster. Her job is to assess what our structure provided for us and to facilitate the other people that will become involved in getting us on the path to being in a home again. She discussed our coverage in a blur of words that basically let me know that our house was insured well, we had our stuff insured and we had a temporary house to be able to get into when it is found.
We let her know there was a deceased cat in the house and another possibly wandering around outside. A second "board up" company was scheduled to secure what the one that came last night missed such as sliding glass doors that popped off their tracks because the freezing water heaved them aside.
This is when we started thinking about our real lives and needed to let our work know that we needed more time than we originally thought.
We left the house after searching for the cat some more and headed to a friends home. The have a large home where they raised four kids who are now at college or living on their own. At the house we discovered we would have the entire large basement and a bedroom and bathroom to create our space while we wait to get a temporary home. I am so exceptionally grateful for being taken in and for having space to call our own for a short period of time.
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