Searching for normalcy

Night three in the rental house brought us our first 'home cooked' meal - frozen pizza and salad.  We introduced Seinfeld to the girls as we ate and had a great time.  A classic two-part episode when Jerry's parents stayed with him on their way to Paris. Those who don't like or remember Seinfeld will not understand but it hit all the classic memories of that show: the close talker, making out during Schindler's list and Newman's revenge, the Executive raincoat, the moth filled cabana wear George sold, the refused invitation for paella, and many more.  Lori and I got a good laugh, we hadn't seen that episode for a long time.  It brought back memories of watching Seinfeld in the 90s.

Speaking of memories - Lori went to her office today for the first time in a while.  She had been working remotely and needed to go in to get some technology updates and repairs.  While she was at her desk she found some pictures in a paperclip from 2002.  They were pictures we took when we went to see our house being built during that summer.  The girls were four and two and looked pretty cute.  I did not remember taking those pictures and it was really neat to see the house as it was being built.  It was a bit sad, too.  When I get to a scanner, I will post some of those pictures. 

Monday we will be able to go to see our belongings and begin to sort through them.  The restoration company has cleaned all of our clothes and made repairs to all the things they could.  We are to go through and separate what we want from what we want to donate.  I am having a hard time imagining what it will look like to see all of our things laid out in front of us.  What made it? What can we keep? What do we have to throw away? What did we lose that we really didn't want to lose?  That last question is the one I am trying not to think about.

This weekend should be a busy one. The basketball team has two games, one at Roncalli and the other is in Lafayette.  That game is the one I am responsible for preparing our team to play.  I have watched that team play live and have two games on DVD to watch.  I have watched one recorded game and have one to go.  Playing in Lafayette is always interesting - it seems the school there often appears to hire officials that are a bit partial to Tippecanoe County players.  I also may be biased and partial to teams from Marion County, but it often seems a little skewed.  Either way, this weekend will be busy.  Lori and the girls are happy, they get to go to their favorite pizza restaurant in Lafayette.

Learned today was trash day when I saw neighbors putting out trash cans.  Haven't met them yet, I'm sure they are curious who has moved in the empty house.  We got garage door openers today! These facts may seem mundane, but trash was piling up and I was getting tired of stopping the car to get out and close the garage door when I leave and honking for someone to open the door. 

Parents of two of my former students live very close to my old neighborhood.  They heard and felt the explosion and knew we lived nearby.  They sent Lori and I a really nice letter and something to help us purchase necessities.  A great family and I really enjoyed teaching their son and daughter.  They nominated our family to receive a Christmas tree that a local radio station was giving away as a promotion for deserving families.  I am humbled to say that the radio station chose us to get the tree and ornaments to decorate it.  We had no tree and it was a wonderful gesture for the family to nominate us and the station to choose us.  It looks great in our front window.  All we need now is a leg shaped lamp to complete the look.

As we get used to this new place, we are trying to be as normal as possible.  It is hard now - we have all different things.  After Monday we should have more of 'our stuff' with us and maybe this place will look more familiar.  As Mary Kate Danaher said in The Quiet Man, "I want to have my own things about me".  It will be good for all of us and help us move toward getting used to living here.