Peaceful, easy feeling,

Just trying to stay positive. There is so much to be glad for here. I have power still, amazingly enough. The wind was down right scary all night.

Easy has been sick so I was on the couch. I wanted him to rest as well as he could. I think he's feeling a little better today. Not a good bug, though.

The Neice and Nephew have been so loved! Our holiday together was in a little sharper focus because of their major trauma. Losing your home hurts.

Odd little bits of good news - a friend went into the mess and found the neice's wedding rings. The photo albums from the same event were in a wooden stand my father built. It's old, dry cherry wood and was between two chairs that burned....it was unharmed. Not even water damage. The photos are safe. The grama's china is also undamaged even though the kitchen is a major burn point in the home.

There has been such an outpouring of help from the workplace, the community and the family that they have more than they can handle right now just going through all the things offered to them. One of the guys the Nephew works with gave them a home, rent free for several months, a local business donated beds for each child and a king size for the parents, there is a tree and presents there for them, too. An entire Yukon suburban full of gifts....gift cards, phone cards, tv, playstation, furniture- they will be days getting things sorted out and shook down but they have so much replaced that the PST will be lessened for all of them.

They are hanging in there pretty well but the oldest boy is having trouble sleeping. He's around five or six and just old enough to really understand what happened. Being at my Sis's place comforted them all as it's "normal" to stay at Granny's.

Normal. Pick your own definition. But to put some "normal" back in your days after such a hit is a great comfort. It means life can be like it was before the fire - someday. Before the hurricane, before the flood - whatever.

Your days are totally rearranged by a disaster. Your habits no longer apply. Lock the doors, put on the coffee for morning, set the alarm, go to bed in your own room and own bed, wake up, go to work... The pace of your days change from what you have done to what you can do. It's all so hard for the short people and the parents are dealing with learning that life is changed in just a second from "normal" to "survival mode".

So I am glad to be home, a little crazy with cabin fever, a little bummed that Easy is ill, a little tired of the same old walls.....the walls that keep the wind outside, the home that is still my refuge, with power to keep us warm and food enough to share....

And all my problems seem smaller. The things it takes to remind us to be thankful for the day...

So, for the way too many-th time...If only you can do it, do it now. Love the one you are with while they are there and don't wait for "the right time" to heal the hurts, mend the fences and keep the love right between all those you walk with here.

(that would be NOW)