(I’m back-posting these two posts to capture an important moment in our family history. this is email 2 of 2)
This email was sent the morning of April 18, 2013:
We feel truly blessed, overwhelmed by the support, assistance, and well wishes from so many people, near and far. I have to admit that, living nowhere near other family, I had moments of panic (“what do I do?”) as I was sitting alone on my driveway at 11 pm watching the four engine’s worth of firefighters, in full gear, haul multiple hoses into my burning home. (“alone”, however, was a source of happiness in that moment: watching the fire billowed out of the roof and the windows of Ezra’s room blow out, I’ve never been happier to be away from my family).
The support from near and far for our family has been overwhelming: family, friends, co-workers, business partners, and even total strangers (I spent Fire Night in the house of a neighbor I’d never met) have been fantastic. We’ve been fed, clothed, shopped for, advised, and funded (literally handed cash because I had no wallet, ATM, credit cards, or ID). Our kids are taken care of. We long ago lost count of the numbers of offers of help and for that, we don’t even know how to express our gratitude. Over the past 48 hours, we have shed many more tears of appreciation, gratitude, and love than we have over any loss.
As for an update, Holly flew back to CA yesterday and got a tour of the remains; the boys are still in Seattle with family. We haven’t quite figured out what to tell Avi and Ezra yet. The insurance company has domiciled us in a local hotel and assigned a temporary housing company to start a housing search for us (we’ll likely need a rental for over a year). I’ve bought some clothes and shoes (and an incredible friend also went shopping for me and handed us bags of groceries). I grabbed a laptop from work along with cell phone chargers. Insurance investigators and adjusters are coming by later today. I’ve also been inundated by Public Assessors and Restoration Companies who literally wait at the house to hand me their card, offering to “help.”
In short, we’re OK. We have temporary lodging and resources for food and clothing. And Internet access That covers the necessities. Holly will go back to Seattle this weekend and bring the boys back on Tuesday, as was originally scheduled. That’s where the next challenge begins, though again, there has already been an outpouring of offers of assistance in the form of playdates, clothing, etc. Avi’s teachers told us that they’re getting him a replacement Batman lunchbox.
Lots of emotions but at the end of the day, we lost stuff, most of it replaceable. That’s all that has happened. Inconvenient, to be sure, but nothing critical. We are fortunate in that we are able to buy new stuff which, over time, we’ll do. And we’ll likely appreciate that stuff even more. Or maybe less, recognizing more vividly that it will still just be replaceable stuff.
If this is our biggest challenge in life, we will have few complaints.
Due to the volume of emails, along with the time required for other logistics, I know I’m not being the most responsive. I apologize for that. It will get better over time… give me a few days to get the ball rolling and I’ll respond to emails more personally. I’ll likely move the longer explanations to our blog (www.grossmanfamilywest.com) so as not to spam your Inbox, though those who are interested can still get all of the deets.
Again, many thanks for your thoughts and assistance and much love from the west coast,
Joel and Holly
