95% Complete and Okay

This was my living room September 22, 2011.

The white areas are where the Big Guy hit the ceiling with a water hose trying to put out a fireball of super heated particulate matter. Bless his heart. He was trying to save our home, but it was too late and he needed a much bigger fire hose. 

This was my living room in May. 

The white areas in this photo are due to a coating of shellac, applied to seal the smoke into the wood so we wouldn't smell it once the home was rebuilt. The more natural wood color is new lumber, added either to bring the structure to current building codes, or to replace or reinforce heat damaged boards. 

This was our home in August. 

You could look right through the structure to the outside. This was about the time I began to cry and cuss things every time I visited the house. It was when I began to internalize that this whole mess wasn't coming to an end any time soon. It was when I knew that we weren't okay. I also knew that we weren't going to be okay for a long time to come. We were just putting one foot in front of the other, going through the motions. 

Fall brought this- walls and windows.

I was seeing possibilities again. 

Home, it was not. 

By November, we were living at home again but something was missing. 

The rest of the furniture. It was MIA. Held up in customs. BLARGH!

Well...today, December 27, 2012...15 months after the fire...

THE CABINETS ARRIVED!

How awesome is that? 

I have my living room back!

I can unpack things!

This room is...um...95% complete now. It needs base boards and a ceiling fan. It could use something to decorate the walls. But, it is homey again. It is a place I can sit and say "ah." 

Little Bean walked in, took one look at the new furniture and said with wonder "is this our old stuff?" I had to laugh, but there was a little twinge of pain. The new pieces are just a bit different than our old ones and there are things missing that will never come back again, but our house is a home again. We're back. And guess what? We're okay. The road home was just way longer (and far more scenic) than we ever could have imagined.