Daily Dose of Us

I put these numbers here and we aren’t even to where they start. So I will try to catch up as quickly as possible.

The unthinkable, unimaginable especially at the time happened. I had a successful business which I had dreamed about since I was 14 years old. I had a beautiful family that included my hubby, 2 boys and a dog. I had a beautiful home which my husband built. Every brick, every board, every piece was a piece of him. I got to design my kitchen. Yes, the building was there but we also made it such an amazing home filled with love and so many firsts. First kisses, first steps, so many different things happened in the house and on the property it was truly HOME!!!

I remember the day and time like it was yesterday. It was a Sunday in October. A little cool out, fall in the northwoods of Wisconsin. I should mention the bar was about 45 minutes from our home. Special on Sundays was broasted chicken and I was the cook that night. I had a bartender which was very rare for a Sunday night. I usually worked and did everything myself. It was getting late and I facetimed with the family to say good night. Like many 8 year old boys, T was out of the bath and running around the house playing, naked. D was downstairs like a teenager would be. The hubby was upstairs hanging out as he had just had surgery a few weeks prior on his shoulder. Life was good at 7:30 pm everyone was getting ready for bed.

After hanging up, I continued my singing and dancing while cleaning up the kitchen from the day and that’s when the call came in 8 pm. “Close the bar, get home, the house is on fire”! Huh, I couldn’t even comprehend what was being told to me. It got repeated a few times and then it hit. I scrambled around. Yelled at the bartender and ran out the door. Forty-five minutes, I’m forty-five minutes away from home. I hit the gas and didn’t look down. I called hubby back and he prepared me for the worst. The house is going to be gone when you get here. The northwoods of WI has been an amazing place for raising boys and having fun outdoors. It’s not great when there is a fire and you live 3 miles from town and it’s a volunteer department. I continued calling people parents and friends just to let them know. I left a message for our insurance agent. Driving I just felt useless, helpless. I was bawling.

What seemed like forever and after barely slowing down, I finally made it to the ball of fire that was home. I hit my knees and just stayed there, crying. Everyone made it out okay including the dog. T was picked up by grandparents since he was naked. D stayed with us and got shoes from a friend as he ran out of the house without them. We watched it burn until about 11:30 that night. We had three different fire departments there which I am so completely greatful for. They did there best and fought that fire so hard. They managed to keep our safe nice and cool so we didn’t lose important documents, etc. They were such an amazing help with so many other things as well. The DNR had to show up as well as it was a windy day and they were nervous of a grass fire. IT WAS A COMPLETE LOSS!!!