1 Year Post-Fire

A year ago the day started out as a normal spring weekend day for us...we went to church, had lunch, lounged around a bit at home and then headed out to "the farm" (my parents) for a Sunday afternoon visit and some mushroom hunting.  Grandpa was working on the horse trailer at the garage so Phil and Grant stayed up there with him.  The rest of us, along with Grandma headed to the woods to do some mushroom hunting.  All was right with the world and we were laughing and enjoying ourselves.  Then I heard the first explosion...assuming it was nothing, we continued hunting.  At the sound of the 2nd explosion, my mom and I shared a look and said that we should go check things out.  As we looked up towards the house, we could see flames shooting from the roof and the explosions continued.  We ran through the woods out into the lane, where we were stuck just watching the house burn, with Phil and my Dad running in and out of the house and poor Grant watching from the pasture fence where they told him to go and stay.  I remember talking to 911 and then waiting what seemed like hours to hear the sirens coming down the road.  I remember the look on my mom's face and the the feeling of panic rising up. I remember calling my brother and sister-in-law to tell them to come...calling two friends to ask them to pray...all while waiting in the lane until the fire department okayed us to come closer.  I remember seeing Phil, my dad and Grant and knowing they were okay....the look on my Dad's face when we finally got to him.  Seeing Molly, their dog being coddled by a friend/EMT who had rescued her from the house and given her CPR...I remember firetrucks, firemen, neighbors, family and friends rushing down the road to us.  The memories come flooding back as I look at these pictures.  I remember the sick feeling in my stomach as we got our first look inside the house...the horrid smell as we packed up belongings for my parents to come stay at our house for the night...the feeling of helplessness at not being able to fix things....I remember not being able to sleep because my body was so tense that I couldn't relax enough to sleep...I remember like it was yesterday.  But, it was a year ago and life has gone on.  It has changed, but it has gone on...and we are all okay.  We are haunted by the memory, but we rejoice at the new structure and the safety of all of us that could have easily been hurt.  The following are some pictures of the day after the fire and present day...The comparison is simply breath-taking to me.  I tried to take very similar angles of the original after-fire shots to show the difference.  I started to write about each picture and explain it...but realized that the pictures tell the story really. 

 

Last year on this day...we had no idea what was coming late that afternoon...no idea. Life was turned upside down and has not been the same since...but we have moved forward, grown closer and loved each other through much.  For that, I am thankful.