The Loss

Three months ago my family and I had our house packed up and we moved five hours away to Virginia. A move that I had been looking forward to for the past three years. West Virginia was hard. It was long and lonely. I did stuff by myself all of the time. My husband was gone most days and nights, and I never really connected with anyone that lived there. So when orders were up and it was time to move I was ecstatic!
 We stayed in a hotel for the first 4 nights when we got here, but opted to leave after that once we got our keys. We knew our household goods wouldn't arrive right away so we brought a UHAUL with a couple items that we might need. For example, four towels, two air mattresses, sheets, plates, silverware, a pot and pan, dog crate, couple toys....ect.

Mike had a month off of work in till school started. We spent those days exploring a little, going to the pool and playground and meeting new friends. It was what our whole family needed after not having practically any social life back in WV. Its also the time when you can get yourself moved in and settled.

A week goes by with no word on our things arriving, then two weeks, then three. We would call to check in if anyone had any information but they never gave us any answers, that's probably because there was none. 

After a month of living out of our house like we were camping, kids sleeping on air mattresses with us, cooking with one pot and one pan we finally get a phone call. 

There was a fire.

Our items were in that building.
they explained that two weeks ago there was a fire in the holding facility where our belongings were being stored. They couldn't let anyone know sooner because their computers holding all the information of the clients were also destroyed. They say the roof had caught fire. They were having it repaired and they think there had been a cigarette tossed into some of the material on the roof. Six different fire stations responded to this fire. It was huge.
They let us know that they didn't think anything was burned, it was more likely to have water damage.  My first reaction, I cried.
I knew what was in there. Things that are absolutely not fixable. All of my childhood violins, photos, Mikes, Mine and my children's childhood memories, school yearbooks, everything.
So, our things sat there already for two weeks, in a wooden box, inside cardboard boxes. They explained that they were going to do a "recovery process", meaning take out everything and "clean" it. In my head I am thinking of the mold that is growing on everything and there is really no reason to "clean" any items like furniture. We asked if we needed to make a trip back there to go through our things to let them know before they waste their time trying to "recover". They said no and they were going to send all of our things here, but yet the things that were "unrecoverable" they were going to leave in the boxes untouched.
So here we are, three months later and our truck finally showed up last Friday. Of course the movers had no idea what they were about to get themselves into because why would anyone relay the information that our things might be damaged, especially when we make it very clear that we needed them to be aware. They took out a couple boxes, but when it came to actual furniture, they said they needed to stop and could no longer continue. The mold had taken over.
I am writing this on a Thursday. Mike has already been in school for two months. Emma starts school on Tuesday and we have absolutely nothing in our house still.
We are waiting to hear back from the storage facility that was moving us in and had taken our stuff back due to mold, when we can come and recover anything that is of sentimental value. That is where we are at. Our household belongings has been deemed a total loss.
This once happy time, moving to a new place, meeting new people has been filled with stress and sadness. We have 8 month left here. I am not making this a home. I am not unpacking the few items we do have. It almost feels like I am already ready to move again and start over somewhere else.