I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Our lives have been rather turned upside down over the last few weeks. It all started with my parent’s house catching on fire on Dec 17th. They were displaced and were staying at my sisters. Then, on New Years Eve my dad had a massive heart attack and passed away. I don’t want to ask how much one family can take because I’m afraid I’ll spur something else to happen.
We are coping as best we can. It’s times like this that family becomes even more important. Our first priority now is making sure my mom is well taken care of. I’ve taken over the handling of the house fire so that my mom doesn’t have to worry about it. I’m learning a lot about insurance in a short period of time. My parents had a “replacement” policy so that everything that was in the garage/shop is covered and can be replaced. At this point, we probably won’t replace everything but will have to decide whether it would be better to replace some items and then sell them, or settle for the depreciated value that the insurance company offers. I’ll probably post more information about how that is going as it happens. If anyone knows a lot about the insurance process and can offer any tips for dealing with both the rebuilding of the burned structures, handling smoke damage, and putting together a claim for contents, please let me know.
At this point we are all just very grateful that we were blessed with such a wonderful father, husband and friend. I learned so much from him and he has helped define my approach to fatherhood in such a positive way. I miss him terribly already but I know that the more pain and sadness I feel, the stronger the love was between us.