Fire!

[Note:  This post was started over the weekend, but wasn't published immediately because we were all working.]

First, everyone is okay.

I was at work at about 3:45 Friday when I got a call on my cell from Kristi.  She said "come home.  Mom and Dad's house in on fire."  She had gotten a call from her mom at 3:40.  And we were on the road within minutes headed to Houston.

Kristi's mom and dad lived in a townhouse complex.  It looks like the outside breaker box at the neighbor's townhouse caught on fire.  It traveled up the fence to the building and engulfed both the neighbor's unit and her mom and dad's.  The fire pretty much gutted the neighbor's house, but luckily only seriously damaged one room - Janet's sewing room - in their house.  The rest of the damage was caused by water and smoke.

It could've been really, really bad.  Tim and Janet were taking naps at the time the fire started.  In fact, they were sleeping so hard that the fire department had to kick in their back door to get them out.  But they did get out, luckily.

So the rest of the weekend was spent moving furniture and possessions out of their house and moving them to Austin where Kristi's brother, Ron, has a couple of storage units.  We tried to air everything out, clean it off and wash the clothes, but most everything still smalls like a campfire.  Luckily, their expensive items - the electronics, washer, dryer, etc. - were unhurt, as were most of their furniture.

This weekend has been so surreal, frustrating, emotional and draining.  Amazing how in the blink, one's world can shift forever.

So now the focus turns to finding Tim and Janet a place to stay for awhile and to Tim's surgery on Tuesday.  More on that later...