My Heart Warming Christmas Story. Part Three
OR How I Learned The True Meaning Of Christmas
When I was sitting alone in that sun room it was in all probability no later than 3.30 in the afternoon. Yet that day seemed to drag on. I remember thinking, "Was it only a few hours ago I awoke in my bed?" A bed that was covered in ash and soot and more then a little ice by now." I wanted nothing more then to lay on my couch and fall asleep.
But unfortunately my couch was now a charred wreck hanging over a hole to my basement.
It was about this time that things began to turn in my favor.
Rose came upstairs and told me that I had a phone call from some lady from Red Cross. Angie had just left with my brother John and his daughter Joy to go back to the house. They were going to see if there was anything else they could get out before it was too dark. I picked up the phone and talked the woman from Red Cross. She was coming in from out of town and wanted to meet me somewhere. I agreed to meet her at McDonald's since she didn't know her way around Kewanee that well.
A few minutes later I was sitting in McDonald's getting the first good news of the day. Red cross was offering to pay for a motel for 4 days, and also was giving me a voucher for Wal-Mart so I could buy some basic supplies for my family such as a change of clothes and some toiletries. It wasn't much but knowing that I had a place to stay for at least 4 days made me feel better.
When I walked into my parents house I saw a large pile of toys sitting on her kitchen table. I asked where they had come from and was told a police officer and his wife had went out and bought them for my children. I was very taken aback. I barely knew the man. I thought it was a very kind gesture. I placed a call to my Insurance agent who told me because of the holidays that there wouldn't be anyone to help me until the 26th. Which seemed an eternity away.
Later after Angie and I had gotten a motel room one of the fire men called. He belonged to an organization that helped families get back on their feet after fires. Since Christmas was coming up he wanted to make sure the kids had toys. He asked if we could meet him at Wal-Mart early the next day.(Christmas Eve. Just the day you want to go and shop at Wal-Mart.)
When Angie and I showed up at Wal-Mart the next morning with our kids we were greeted by not just the one group, but by the Marines who also wanted to buy my kids gifts for Christmas. They had thoughtfully brought with them news crews from two of the local television stations.
Normally a shopping spree paid for by someone else is just the thing to lift my spirits. But having just lost everything I possessed was taking some of the joy out of it. Also there nothing more disconcerting then having two television cameras stuck in your face when you're looking at underwear. My oldest son Ethan also found this to be upsetting. Everytime he reached for a new toy the cameramen would lean over and zoom in on him. After a little while Ethan was becoming openly hostile to the reporters.
While we were there people that I knew from working at Wal-mart were coming up and giving me their best wishes. They were also giving me cards with money or gift certificates in them. I was becoming very overwhelmed by everyone's kindness. One lady alone gave me a gift certificate to Wal-mart worth $300.
At noon one of the television stations aired fotage of us shopping at Wal-mart. By 5 that afternoon people were dropping gifts and clothes and money off at my parents house, or the fire department. By the next day my mothers basement was half full of all the donations people were leaving us.
Now to be honest this took me completetly by surprise. When we had our first fire (You'll never know how it makes me feel when I hve to use terms like "First Fire" and "Second Fire".) we got nothing. Not one donation.
Now we were getting so much we couldn't handle it all. The Fire Department had so much dropped off at their station they had to bring it over in two pick up trucks. People who had not spoke to me in years sent me checks.
Every year we have Christmas at my sisters house. That year was no exception. However I have no memory of it. I was still in shock from the fire. I also have no clear memory of Christmas day. I do remember sitting in my motel room watching a local channel show Real Estate listings. I kept wondering if I was looking at our new home there somewhere.
Sometime in that time frame I went over to the house to see what I could salvage if anything. To my great surprise I found that a great majority of our photographs had surived. It was all more surprising because they were in our living room. They were more or less protected by being in a heavy end table stuck tightly inbetween two heavy sofa's. Also most of our family video tapes had survived because Ethan had taken them up to his room to watch them.
The day after Christmas the donations kept pouring in. I literally couldn't believe it. Some of them were coming from as far as 100 miles away.
The fact that I've always had a fairly low opinion of my fellow man may have had something to do with it.
That afternoon I finaly meet with my Insurance Adjuster. I wasn't sure what to expect. Our first fire we never had any Insurance. (Let this be a lesson to you!) So when I met the man at my house I was sure I was about to get screwed over.
After we walked though the wreckage of my home he turned to me and said,"I think we can save it."
I was stunned. "You did see the little hole in the living room?"
He explained to me that my Insurance paid more to repair my house then it did to replace my house. A lot more.
It boiled down to this. My Insurance would figure out what the fair market value of my house would be before the fire, add maybe 15 % to it and tell me to buy a new house. Sadly this meant I would only be getting a check for around 50 some thousand .
Or they could spend up to $120,000 to repair it. The next day Angie and I met with the contractor the Insurance Adjuster recommended. He told us that basicly he was going to rip everything out of my house and leave the shell. I would end up with a new house inside. Also he could move things around and make other improvements we wanted. It didn't take long for me and Angie to agree.
Our Insurance even paid for us to stay at another house while ours was being repaired. 5 months later we moved into our "new" home. With our replacement money I even had enough to buy myself a lovely 48 inch widescreen television,(HDTV ready) and a tivo for Mark. I even bought the exact same couch, chair, and love seat I had before.
I'll never forget the kindness that complete strangers showed us. With the Insurance we would have made it though, but because of the gifts and donations I've begun to question my opinion of my fellow man.
We lost many things that can never be replaced, but in the end we were very lucky. With some of our replacement money we paid off the house and still had enough to replace everything we had except two piano's. They had been given to us for free, but when we looked up the cost of replacing them thought that the money would be more wisely spent paying off the house.
So sitting here two years later it's hard to believe what we went though. I'll never forget the lesson I learned from my second fire.
If you have to have a fire, have it two days before Christmas.