EPILOGUE (FIRE!)

    The devastation in the wake of a house fire is unbelievable. An "adjuster" had shown up during the fire, and explained the procedures to follow and offered his services.  We hired him on the spot.  A fire adjuster does the paper work for you and acts as your representative with your insurance company.  Oh, by the way, they take a percentage of what you collect from the insurance.
    The first time I went back into the house it didn't look that bad.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I must have been in denial.  Each time I went back into the house it looked worse than the previous time.  I figured that we could salvage a lot of things.  Finally I saw the shattered glass from framed pictures, broken windows and glass door. The verticals in the family room had melted from the heat and were hanging like icicles.  The linoleum was melted beyond recognition and the carpeting was crackling under foot.  I finally realized that it was much worse than I thought.
    Some people seem to think "oh you have fire insurance" is a relief.  It is to a certain extent, but can not possibly begin to replace the memories, the treasured  souvenirs from the past - basically your history.  While I thanked God for our safety, I didn't expect what was to come next.
    All padded furniture had to be tossed, mattresses, the melted floor, the fried wiring, crispy carpeting.  There was a hole in the roof, the chared remains of the now non-existent deck, and all the work done by my father-in-law.  Hoping to save something from the basement, I couldn't get to it because the stairs were burned away.  As it turned out, there was four feet of water in the basement from the firemen putting out the fire.  Any hopes of salvaging anything was pretty much out of the question.
    Our daughter-in-law had cleaned the entire house and shampooed the carpeting just finishing the day before.  Now her job was to deal with the adjuster, the builder and the clean up crew to make sure that all salvageable items were safe.  Those items were put in storage, and remain there.  The entire house had to be tossed!  The house was stripped down to the framing, and all cabinets and appliances were tossed.
    Our younger son, the EMT, wound up leaving the first aid squad and helped me to plan out the "new" house.  By the time my son and I were done, the price of the house more than doubled the original cost, and we had an addition planned.  We were under the mistaken impression that the fire insurance would cover all of this.  Wrong!  Everyone makes a buck from your misfortune and it's sickening.  The new mortgage is double and so are the payments.
    We moved from our daughter's to a motel that ousted my poor puppy, and then to a rental.  My pup went to live with my older son temporarily and he came home to the rental.  We moved back in late January, eight  months after the fire.
    During the rebuilding of the house, my father-in-law died and just before we moved back in, our daughter died.  There was so much to deal with, my husband and I became zombies.  Thank God our amazing children were there to take care of us!