Day 2: Still a dream. Make a list.

Waking up at my in-laws house is fine. I don’t mind staying with them – after all, they’ve opened their home to us many times over the years as we’ve transitioned from one phase of our family life to another.  But this time it was different. We all woke up with blank stares. Hugging the kids was the only thing that gave me some comfort.  My mother-in-law made some breakfast (best egg taquitos on the planet, by the way).  We put on the same clothes as yesterday. Thank goodness for my MIL’s washer and dryer.
            We went to the store that morning to buy socks and tennis shoes for all of us. Most of that day was spent calling local hotels close to the kids’ schools. We found one with availability for three consecutive days. They were booked for the weekend so we needed to find someplace else to be on that Friday night, but I couldn’t think that far ahead, so we piled into the SUV (least amount of damage car-wise) and we headed to the available hotel to get settled and checked in. We drove by the house on the way…

Blurry... I was crying when I took this. The outside doesn't look bad, huh? Deceiving...

            My phone was blowing up. Texts and phone calls from friends, family members, co-workers and insurance agents streamed in all day long. I’m not going to lie – it was SO overwhelming. I know I didn’t actually need to respond to everyone, but the pressure to do just that was there. Thank God my mom and my friends RT and LF were able to be the filters for me. They would pass on our status and that helped me actually deal with whatever was going on in my face for that minute.  And I felt more comfortable telling them I needed underwear than anyone else! I had a little notebook with me that was filling with lists quickly.  I mean I love lists just as much as the next girl, but this was too many lists!! A list of clothing to buy – for all 5 of us. A list of hotels and their numbers. A list of lesson plans to send to my school for my substitute teacher. A list of toiletries. A list of insurance agents and their phone numbers AND the dates/times they were coming to the house to view damage. A list of prescriptions to get refilled. A list of utility companies to call to shut off services. A list of places to call since we missed 3 appointments in the last 2 days. A list of fire dept. contacts to get the reports to send to insurance companies for house and all three cars… Yes, when people say “the list goes on and on,” they are NOT kidding. I think they were talking about me in particular.
            So we get to the hotel. One room. One bathroom. Two full beds and a pull out loveseat. FIVE people. Yep.  We had to think if it as a mini-vacation.  That’s what I told the kids – “Just pretend we are on a long weekend at the beach. We’ve done this before.”  They did NOT like the analogy. This was NOT a mini-vacation and by no means was I going to relax and read a book by the shore.