Sorting the stuff

This is a little post regarding the ongoing saga of my family's recovery from Hurricane Irene.

Last Friday the insurance adjuster made it out to our home.  My husband handled this all on his own.  He did a pretty good job.  He was completely focused on the roof and the damage in the attic.  And why wouldn't he be?  This is where he has spent most of his time and energy.  I counted on him for this.  We also have to have our deck replaced.  They dropped the tree on the deck while removing it from the roof of our house.  Our deck no longer meets code, so no one will repair it.  It has to be replaced.  Also, we have about a dozen other trees that are either down or leaning that need to be removed.  I depended on my husband to remember to deal with all these things.  I, however, was thinking about the interior space of the rooms.  I was thinking about the dry walling, the carpeting, the painting, the STUFF.  I called the insurance adjuster today and left a voice-mail.  I hope she will call me back.   *Please Heather, call me back.*

But, back to the STUFF.

I remember making a statement in my post, Goodnight Irene, while I was still in shock about my house being broken.  I remember saying something about it being a positive opportunity to clean out my son's room of STUFF.  Obviously I was in shock.  Obviously, I didn't know what the heck I was saying.  There is NOTHING positive about this experience in ANY way.  Ok, I'm sorting through my son's stuff.  With him.  I have discovered my son is,... sort of,... a hoarder.  He gets this from his father and possibly from a recessive gene on his mother's side.  *sigh*

Now we are back from vacation and hip-deep in the work of restoring our home.  Of course, my son did nothing on the sorting of stuff on his own.  Because, seriously, he thinks it is all precious.  Oh my.

I've told you I'm a fan of the show Hoarders.  I know those people have a mental illness and cannot be shamed into cleaning up their act.  So, I was gentle with him.  At least, I was as gentle as I can be with anyone.  We started with clothing.  I convinced him to part with clothing that no longer fit him.  In fact, a couple times he came to the realization the articles of clothing were from his middle school years.  He was able to part with quite a bit.  It's a start.  I moved on to empty boxes.  I know this is a gene inherited from his father.  I cannot, for the life of me, understand the allure of the empty box.  However, I've seen the attraction my husband has for them, so I could understand there would be the same attraction here.  He was able to part with four empty boxes.  It's a start.  I can see this is going to be a long process.  I'm a little scared.  I think I may take to clearing stuff out in the middle of the night, just to get this job done.  *sigh*

I don't want to dwell on this area of my life, but right now, cleaning up and restoring my home seems to be swamping all other things I do right now.  I go to work, but when I get home I start working on the house.  This is my new NORMAL.  This is How My Life Is, for a while.  And I think it will be a long while.  I covet your encouragement and well wishes.  I intend to stay positive, but some days it is tough to do.  I'm seriously trying to let the negative go.  I try not to think about the people complaining that the tennis courts are still damaged and why don't we GET GOING and get them fixed.  It's amazing the attitudes some folks have.  Can you say empathy?

I certainly have more empathy than I ever had before.

Mirrors

I have just spent the last week in hotels.  I think I'm a fan of the hotel room.  I think I should make my house more like a hotel room.  I love the minimalism of the hotel room.  I love having everything I need in a small space.  I noticed all the storage opportunities and the elegance of simple furniture.  One of the things I REALLY noticed was the plethora of mirrors.  Wow!  I have spent the last week seeing myself from every angle possible.  This was not a pretty sight.  In fact, the sight of me from every angle, at potentially any time of the day or evening really put me off my food.  All I could think about was, "oh my...  I must stop eating and lose weight."

I wonder how I am able to put off looking at myself for so long and then be shocked at the reality of myself when seeing my image EVERYWHERE I looked?  I'm thinking about putting more mirrors in my house.  BIG, full length mirrors.  I'm thinking I should put them near the refrigerator.  And maybe some more by the couch.  And, another one or two in the bathroom.  Near the shower.  Mirrors do tell the truth, don't they.  Yep, I now know what people walking behind me see.  I'm so sorry people walking behind me.  I didn't realize it looked so bad back there.
 
One thing about the mirrors I enjoyed, were the mirrors on the sitting room walls at Harrah's in South Lake Tahoe.  Because of the mirrors I could see the sunset over the mountains no matter where I stood in the room.  Breathtaking.

My 9-11 story

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001?

 

Everyone remembers, don’t they.   On this 10^th anniversary of the tragedy I will share my 9-11 story.

My story begins on Sunday September 2nd, 2001.  My husband, son and I traveled north to NYC.  We met some old friends at Liberty State Park, NJ and hopped the ferry to Liberty Island to view and visit the Statue of Liberty.  My son was 14 years old and this was his first visit to the NYC area.  It was our friend’s son’s first visit to the Statue of Liberty.  His dad drives a Red Cross blood truck in Manhattan, so going to the city or even near the city isn’t high on his list of favorite things to do.  We were all so excited.  It was so much fun.  We took the ferry.  We saw Ellis Island on the way to Liberty Island.  We disembarked  at Liberty Island and got in line to go inside the statue.  When we got to the top of the pedestal of the statue we stopped and took pictures of ourselves with the Twin Towers in the background.  It was the iconic NYC backdrop and the classic NYC touristy visit.  We continued our visit to the statue by climbing the stairs to the crown of the statue and looking out over the harbor and lower Manhattan.  We took the ferry back to NJ and got in the car and scooted through the Holland Tunnel and down to the little Italy area of Manhattan.  We had a lovely lunch at Umberto’s.  I’m talking about the REAL Umberto’s on Mulberry St.  The one with the real bullet holes in the wall from the killing of Crazy Joe Gallo.  We drove down to the financial district and debated visiting the Twin Towers, but decided we had stood in enough lines for the day.  There was always next year.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 was a beautiful blue sky day.  We woke up to a regular school day after a fun fun weekend in NYC with our friends.  I sent my son off to school on the bus and turned on Good Morning America and poured myself a cup of coffee.  I heard Diane and Charlie saying something about smoke coming out of one of the towers.  I continued to get myself ready to go bowling.  I was on a bowling league.  This was one of the perks of being a stay-at-home mom.  Suddenly I saw the second plane hit the second tower.  I was stunned.  I was sick.  I didn’t know what to do.  My decision was to continue with my day and go bowling.  It was the right decision. 

A little background information on me.  At this time I am a retired naval aviator’s  wife.  My husband retired from the Navy as an S3 flier.  He is currently working for a contractor in the Washington DC area. He is, what is known as a “beltway bandit.”    He travels to the Pentagon for meetings on a regular basis.  Most of the women on the bowling league I bowl with are either active duty military wives or retired military wives, like myself.  I was in good company.

As we bowled we watched the events of that terrible day unfold on tv.  We were nervous that the terrorists would continue hitting targets down the coast.  I couldn’t remember if my husband was at the Pentagon or in town that day.  I couldn’t reach him on the phone.  I could reach my mom.  She reminded me his usual Pentagon meeting was on Mondays, not Tuesdays.  *sigh*  Thank God for mom.

I watched the smoke billow from the Pentagon.  I watched the first tower fall.  I watched the second tower fall.  I saw the scorched earth in Shanksville, PA.  I still had not heard from my husband, but I wasn’t as worried.  Mom had put my mind at ease.

I decided I would go to my part-time job at the pregnancy care center.  I was an administrative assistant there.  All the volunteers and administrators were there.  I put in my four hours.  It was the right decision.

When I left my office, I decided to stop and my son’s school and pick him up a bit early.  I discovered I was one of the last parents to pick up their child.  My son was a bit upset with me.  We talked about it and he understood.  There was no one at home.  Being at school was the best place for him.   My husband was in town and not at the Pentagon.  We were all safe.  At the end of the workday we all gathered around the tv and watched the news together.

This is my 9-11 story.  There wasn’t another opportunity to visit the Twin Towers.  We know we need to grab opportunities when they occur.  We tell each other “I love you” when we are together.  Life is short.  And it can be snatched away at a moment’s notice.  

Live well, laugh often, love much.

And never forget.

Typo

I'm trying so hard to get a week's worth of work done in two days.  I'm going on vacation tomorrow.  It couldn't be a worse time to go away.  Work is so busy.  I've got two HUGE meetings to get ready for.  I sent out meeting materials for the meetings and I spelled satellite like this.

SATELIGHT

Seriously?  I didn't catch this misspelling in the document.  And, dang microsoft word doesn't catch misspellings when you use all CAPS.  I'm so embarrassed.  I sent this document to all the college trustees, the president and all the VPs.  It's pretty humiliating.  I didn't even see it.
 
On the up side.  It rained most of the night last night and the patch kept the rain out of the house.  And, I'm going on vacation tomorrow.  I'm going to have a good time, anyway.

Progress and a positive attitude returns

Two roofing experts have told me I do not have to have all the drywall in my son's room replaced.  I just have to repair the holes I put in the drywall to allow the water to  escape.  Wow, this is super good news.  I'm still waiting to hear back from the roofing experts to discover the estimates on repairing my roof.  So far, so good.

We will continue to take each day as it comes.

As I type this post, my husband is on the roof.  He is nailing plywood down, sealing the plywood with roofing tar, covering it with roofing felt and then he will nail shingles to the whole thing.  This is the mother of all roof patches.  I will feel so much more secure with this patch, rather than a blue plastic tarp.  I just love him.

Anyway, my family is moving forward in the recovery of our home security after hurricane Irene.  Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.  I am feeling more hopeful than I've felt in 5 days.  My readers are the BOMB.