Love Abounds and Abounds and Abounds

During our Seminary journey, we have been blessed in many ways. Some of them have been surprising, and others down right shocking. The lengths to which humans will go to show their love to one another often amazes and humbles me.
Gift giving is NOT my love language; in fact it is probably lowest on my list. Gift giving is always uncomfortable for me. I always feel like I'm not appreciative enough when I receive gifts and I always feel like I haven't done enough when I give a gift. It is always awkward and so I avoid it whenever possible. Christmas stresses me out, especially because my husband's love language IS gift giving and so he spends months shopping and researching and planning to get just the right gift for everyone. It makes me crazy!

But, sometimes, someone gives so deeply of themselves that is more than a gift... it is literally a piece of their soul laid before me and I am in awe of the glimpse of God's love that I see through human generosity. This is one of those times.
The family of believers from Faith Lutheran Church in Mesick, MI, a small church - 23 members - 'adopted' our family. This means that they have made a commitment to support our family, through prayer and financially during this time at Seminary. They do not know us, and we have no other connection to the people there, except that we happen to also be from Michigan.

They decided to send their Pastor and his family to visit us and give us gifts for Christmas. It was a nice surprise and we were very grateful, but this in no way was 'shocking'

They couldn't stay long and so left the presents with us. We didn't open them until later in the evening. We received clothing and toys and very nice gifts. But, in this, we were given something very special as well.

This airplane was made by a couple at Faith, from a tree in their yard, by hand, and Noah's name is burned into the side. It is a replica of a WWII fighter plane. Jacob received one as well, with his name on it.

I don't know how to make much of anything, so I can't really appreciate the amount of work that goes into a project like this, but I do know that it isn't something that you just throw together. It takes time and patience and dedication. It isn't something that you just do, it is an act of love.

An act that SO humbles me...

As I watch the boys play with their planes and fly them around the house, I am in awe. There are no words to truly express what an incredible gift this is. I thank God for the family at Faith, Mesick.

Loving My Little Learners

I've now been homeschooling long enough that I'm beginning to plan the graduation of my oldest child. One of the things that I have struggled with over the years is accepting each child for who they are.

It is phenomenal to me that my children, all originating from the same DNA, are so extremely different. Some of them are math geniuses, while others pick up languages easily. Some of them have talents that are obvious while others struggle to see where their gifts lie. Some of them LOVE social interaction and are always making plans to leave the house and gather with their friends while others would prefer to never leave their own book shelf. ALL different, all unique...

I know this. I appreciate this about them, and yet, I still struggle to really accept it. But, I keep trying.

Recently, I posted a bit about Teaching my six year old engineer to read.  He can't seem to sit still for twenty minutes to finish a reading lesson and I wonder how I'll ever teach him anything.
But, I learned something today. There is nothing wrong with his attention span.

I know this because he spent ten straight hours building this "Ninja Training School"

 It has all sorts of details and moving pieces...

These guys actually fight on a platform that works like a foosball table. This set has 518 pieces. It took all day to build and every one of the 70 (Yes, seventy!) steps was intensely complicated and involved. But, he worked on it all day, with only a couple of breaks to get a snack and have dinner.

There are numerous other examples of times that my children have exceeded my expectations, and shown me that my way of teaching doesn't always fit their way of learning. But, that's one of the greatest things about homeschooling... I'm learning just as much as they are.

Teaching a Six Year Old Engineer to Read

Teach your child to READ in 100 Easy Lessons. That's the name of one of my favorite books. I've taught 3 of my children to read using this method with great success - they are all very good readers.

But, now I'm trying to teach Jacob. He's six and not reading yet. He understands the concepts, knows the sounds and will sound out words when coerced. He can even read whole sentences and complete stories when properly motivated.

Therein lies my problem. We are on Lesson 70, and I have yet to figure out how to properly motivate this child. 

He is an engineer, a builder, a scientist... he is also a secret ninja who regularly travels to China to train at ninja school via the time and space traveling device that is in his lab that has a secret trap door with recognition software that detects if anyone other than him tries to enter and will detonate and blow us all to pieces if we try to access it. AND, on these trips to China, he also visits Julia; the love of his life, the prettiest girl in the world, and the girl he plans to marry.

Yes, this is the world that Jacob lives in, and I try to understand it.

Sitting down for 20 minutes to sound out one letter at a time to make a word and doing this same task over and over again, to make another word and another word and another word... and when you look ahead in the book, it's ALL just MORE WORDS! This is not nearly as exciting as the rest of his life.

It's my goal to finish one lesson per day. Some days, I succeed, simply by being the most strong willed, and bugging him so that he can't concentrate on anything else until he does what I want. Other days, he is the more strong willed and I give up. Some days, I come up with creative ideas, like "You can have one M&M every time you read a sentence." (He was sick of them by the fifth one) Or "Reading Jacks" which I thought was a terrific idea and worked really well for one day.

Reading Jacks is a game where he reads a sentence, then counts the words in the sentence (something he loves to do anyway - he likes to know how many words he has read and how many are left to go), then he does that number of jumping jacks before reading the next sentence. This worked great for one lesson.

Now, when I suggest it, he says "I hate that game"

Every day it's a struggle, and I start off the day thinking that I will get it over with early in the morning and then we'll both feel better about it. But, then he gets deeply involved in building and imaginative play, so I keep putting it off and we end up in a battle by mid-afternoon because we allow media time (this is tv shows/video games, etc) from 3pm to 5pm, but only for children who have all of their schoolwork done. If Jacob hasn't finished his reading lesson then he doesn't get to play. This makes him angry, but does not motivate him to do the lessons.

If this was any other subject, I think I would just wait until he's a little older. But, this is learning to read. I feel like it is necessary and the longer we wait on this, the harder it will be for him to learn other subjects that require reading.

So, I'm curious. How did you teach your children to read? How old were they? How long would you wait if your child couldn't/wouldn't read? How far would you go to make it happen?

Ms. Cheap's Money Saving Tips

I'm still working my way through my first December book, but I tend to skip around from topic to topic and generally read more than one book at a time. The second book that I started this month is "Ms. Cheap's Guide to Getting More For Less"  by Mary Hance, 2001.

I pick up books with titles like this ALL the time; in free boxes, library book sales, yard sales, etc. It's like an obsession. Most of them read like the every month column in the grocery aisle magazines; with tips like "Don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry." or "Always go to the store with a list, you're less likely to make an impulse purchase."

My all time favorite books in this category are "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" because it's filled with real-life tested and specific, practical advice - loads of it! and "Your Money or Your Life" because these authors have a great way of bringing the concept of how and when we spend money and explaining it in a way that represents the amount of your life that you gave to earn that money and using that as the standard for deciding whether or not the purchase is worth it. In fact, I think that these two books are so fabulous that I pick them up whenever I see them just so I can give them to people.

I thought Ms. Cheap's would be more of the standard magazine article fare, but so far it has proven at least a little more interesting as that. It is more along the lines of the Tightwad Gazette with specific tips, many of them reader contributed. Below are a few of my favorites so far:

1. Buy formal gowns at thrift shops and use the expensive fabrics to make fancy pillows.

2. Newborn clothes are usually found like new at thrift stores and yard sales since babies grow so fast, they may not get to wear them even once. Pick these up and hold on to them for the next time you get invited to a baby shower.

3. Yard sale tip: Leave your name & number with a low ball offer for an item just in case the item is still sitting around at the end of the day and the seller decides they would rather take your money than haul the item back inside their house.

4. With all the different sizes and varieties of toilet paper, it is nearly impossible to compare them. But, here's a practical tip from a reader contributor on page 55; take the TP to the produce section and weigh it to see which one offers more for the money.

5. Oatmeal makes a great thickener for soups. This tip appears on page 60 and was passed along from a 1959 publication of 1003 Household Hints and Work Savers.

6. Another reader submitted suggestion from page 68, is to tape perfume samples to ceiling fans as an air freshener.

I'm only about half way through this book, and a lot of the tips are things that we already know and do, but it does have a few new ideas, even to me.

Writing High School Transcripts - YIKES!

National Novel Writing Month is over. So, I'm declaring December my Read-A-Lot month to balance out all the time I spent writing last month. Today, I started "Creating Standards-Based Integrated Curriculum"
by Susan M. Drake. I was attracted to the title because I feel like this is exactly what I've been doing for the past four years as our oldest prepares to graduate from high school and I have to write a transcript that accurately represents her academic and extracurricular experience.

Drake supports the development of curriculum that is both relevant to the learner and accountable to required standards. This is basically the concept that we used in the creation of Vacation Education Epcot and Vacation Education Magic Kingdom, as we developed educational unit studies based on the exhibits in the parks (relevant) that included all the core subjects (standards).

Of course, as homeschoolers we do not have to meet the same hard and fast standards that are required of Drake's audience of teachers in traditional schools. We have the freedom and responsibility to establish our own standards based on the needs of our students.

The standards for classroom teachers are frequently changing, usually at the whim of an administrator who has had limited if any experience teaching children. As homeschoolers, our standards are ever changing as well, as we discover the gifts, talents and challenges of each individual child.

Drake promises a backwards approach - rather than creating a curriculum and then hoping it meets these ever-changing standards, she offers a method of analyzing the standards for their true meaning and applying them to any curriculum. I've just started to read this text in hopes that it will help me to accurately write course descriptions for the credits on my daughter's transcript.

When she started high school, we looked up the Indiana Core 40 and used this as a template. Filling in the basic academic credits were easy. It's the courses such as "Pregnancy, Childbirth and Newborn Care" that we did in place of Biology or "Personal Finance" that replaced a semester of Integrated Mathematics. And, I still have to come up with a creative name for the course where the student learns to do their own laundry...

So, I'm curious to hear from other homeschooling moms: How do you develop curriculum to meet your standards for education? And, how do you determine what those standards are?

Second Chance: November 30 The END

This is it! The final post, the end of the story. It has been a grand journey of literary abandon, and I've had fun sharing the story with you. I never made 50K words, in case you were counting along with me, but it's really all about the adventure. I hope you've enjoyed the story.

If you are just now joining in, the story starts here.

Karin was just about to pick up the phone and call Troy when the front door to her office opened. She held the receiver against her ear with her finger on the key pad as she looked at Jay standing there in front of her.

“I want to explain some things.” He said. Karin slowly set down the receiver.

“I’m listening,” she said.

“Can we go for a drive?”

“A romantic drive isn’t going to explain away everything that’s happened,” she said.

“I know.” He said. “But, there is something that I want to show you…” he looked around awkwardly for a moment, and then said, “but, only if you want to.” She had never seen Jay act sheepish before; he was always confident and certain, always the charmer. Suddenly, she saw a vulnerability she’d never seen before.

“Okay, I’ll go with you.” She said. She took a couple of minutes to lock up the office and then she was riding along beside him in his cherry red sports car, the wind whipping through her hair. She’d forgotten to grab a hair tie and so she rode with her hair cupped in her hands, holding it out of her face.

Jay didn’t speak as they rode down the Avenue and then onto North Lakeshore Drive, but with the top down, he would have had to nearly shout to be heard over the wind. He pulled into a circle driveway just north of the public beach. He got out of the car and opened the door for her.

“This is for you.” He said.

“What is?”

“All of this,” he said and he waved his hand around in the air. “This house, the land, the beachfront… all yours, even if you say no.”

“You can’t just give me a house.” Karin said. “And, you haven’t explained anything.” She turned around and started to get back in the car.

“No, just come and take a look. I promise I will explain everything.” Karin rolled her eyes and sighed, but she followed him.

“I’m not really fond of surprises.” She declared.

“Alright, I’ll make this short and to the point then. I retired from my job and I’m moving back to Duneville. I’m keeping the farm and I bought this house for you because I know how much you’ve always wanted to live on the beach. But, I was hoping…” at this he turned toward her and took her hand. He knelt down on one knee in front of her. “…that we could live in them together.”

Karin just started shaking her head. “No, I don’t understand. What about your parents? You can’t give up your inheritance for me. We’ve already talked about this.” She tried to pull her hand away, but he gripped it tight and he didn’t move. With his free hand, he took a small box from his pocket.

“There is no inheritance to give up.” He said. “I bought a majority share in the company, so I already own more than I would have inherited. I’ll still have to show up for an occasional board meeting, but I’m basically a silent partner now.” He let go of her hand and opened the box. He held out the ring to her.

“No more secrets, no more surprises. Karin, I promise that you can trust me. Just say yes.”

Karin’s eyes filled with tears of happiness. “Yes.”

Second Chance November 29

The story starts here.

“How so?” Troy asked.

“Well, how do you know when you’ve met the right person? How do you know when it’s the one?”

“My dad always said that you’ll know because you won’t have to ask that question anymore.” Karin pondered this piece of advice as she sipped the warm coffee. It had always been hard for her to relax, but here, in this house, where she’d shared coffee with her friend so many times before, there was a calm she couldn’t explain, a peacefulness that for her existed nowhere else.

The beep of the dryer interrupted their conversation.

“Your clothes should be dry now.” Troy said.

“Thank you,” Karin said as he handed her a pair of warm sweats, stained with paint from months of work days, but clean and dry and cozy. She changed and returned his bathrobe.

When Karin got home, there were several messages on her machine. Three from Jay, one from the Piermont Group thanking her for her proposal, but they were going to contract with a company with greater resources, one from Lutheran Life Villages thanking her for choosing them to care for her mother, and the rest from potential renters looking for apartments.

She listened to the messages from Jay, over and over again. The sound of his voice, the smell of his chest, the way he smiled and ran his fingers through his hair; everything about him made her heart skip a beat. But, his life was all mixed up, and he would always be just beyond her reach. He wanted her to trust him, but he had too many secrets.

When she thought of Troy Bennett, and the cozy little house on the lake, it felt like home. She wasn’t driven into his arms by a relationship of old, or by a flame of passion, but all of her wanted to go to him.

“I know he’s older than me, but his life is simple.” Karin told Michelle when they talked the next morning. 

“And, we have so much in common.”

“Did he cook for you and show you a sun rise?” Michelle asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“No, it wasn’t like that. He didn’t do anything planned or showy or especially romantic. He just…” Karin tried to put words to what it was that Troy had done that had made her feel so good. “He just took care of me.”

“I think you take good care of yourself just fine. You don’t need a man to take care of you, do you?”

“It’s not that I need to be taken care of, but maybe I do. Maybe that’s exactly what I need, exactly what I’ve needed all along.” Karin said, and she thought for a moment, then added. “You know, I’ve been taking care of my mother for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been taking care of the needs of all the people who rent from me and fixing things for my clients and now that I think about it, I’ve been taking care of other people most of my life.”

“That’s true. You do deserve to have someone treat you right.” Michelle said, sympathetically.

“Jay is so good-looking and charming and I’ve thought for years that he was the standard that I’ve been trying to make every other man live up to. But, I’ll always feel like he’s hiding something, or like there’s another secret about to be revealed. I can’t live on edge like that.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to call him and accept his invitation for a date, and we’ll see where it goes.” Karin said.

Read the last page here. 

Second Chance: November 28

FYI: I was having a bad day yesterday, so I didn't work on this. If I had, it would have read something like this: "And, then Karin drove off a cliff. The End."

The real story starts here.

Karin didn’t go home. She drove in circles, struggling to see through her tears; gasping for air as she cried uncontrollably. She just kept driving until she ended up north of town on Lakeshore Drive in the dunes. She stopped her car and realized that she was in the same spot that she had brought Jay to see his first shoreline sunset, and then she cried even harder. She wanted to get out and sit on the beach in the dark and listen to the waves hit the shore, but just as she was about to open the door, she saw another car approaching. Their music was blaring and a group of teenagers got out of the car. They had obviously been drinking and were laughing loudly as they climbed the embankment. Karin started the car and turned around. She headed back into town and pulled into an address she recognized. The Bennett’s lake house was adorable, even in the dark the moonlight shone just enough through the trees for her to see the little cottage style abode.

She parked her car in the driveway and walked behind the house and down to the shore line. She knew no one would think to look for her here. She sat down in the wet sand and let the water run over her, each wave like a pulsing heart beat, tempting her to dive in and never look back.

She wished she had a drink.

“Hey,” A voice said behind her. She turned and looked and there was a figure in the dark. It occurred to her to be afraid. The town was filled with transients, coming and going for weeks or nights at a time. No one would know that she’d even been here. He could do anything to her, throw her body in the lake and take her car. She would wash up somewhere else, all the evidence buried in the sand and he could slink away into the night.

“Hey, you by the water,” The figure moved closer. She watched him, but didn’t answer.

“Is that your car parked up there?” The figure asked. She could see his silhouette, and in his hand was something that distinctly looked like a gun.

So, he did want her car. He could have it. That old Taurus was due for a replacement anyway. Maybe she’d get a cool new Ferrari like Jay had.

“You can have it,” she yelled and tossed her keys in his direction.

“What the…” the figure said.

“I haven’t seen your face,” Karin yelled. “Just take the car and go. It’s paid off. I won’t report it stolen.”

“Karin?” The figure said. “Karin Anderson? Is that you?” Now, the figure was approaching her faster. He was almost close enough for her to see his face.

“No, we don’t know each other. Just take the car and go.” Then, the figure came into view.

“Troy?” Karin asked. “Troy Bennett? What are you doing out here?”

“It’s my house. I heard you pull in to the driveway and at first I thought it was just someone lost and turning around, but then when the car was still parked there I had to come and see who it was.”

“Why do you have a gun?” Karin asked.

“Because this is my house and all sorts of crazy people come and party on the beach. I keep it just in case one of them forgets what house they’re supposed to go to.” He put the gun in a holster on his waist.

“What are you doing out here?” Karin was still sitting in the wet sand, and the tide was rising. Her pants were completely soaked.

“Just sitting. I thought the house was empty, I figured no one would even notice if I parked there.”

“Why are you sitting in Lake Michigan behind my house in the middle of the night?” Troy asked, coming close enough that his feet were in the water and the bottom cuffs of her jeans were getting wet.

“It’s been a really long day. I was looking for a good place to think. I used to come out here a lot when your mom lived here. She never came out and asked me what I was doing.”

“Yeah, Mom used to cry into the lake sometimes too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Come on, let’s get you inside and dry. I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee.” Troy said. Karin nodded. She was freezing.

“I just realized something,” Karin said as they started walking towards the house.

“What’s that?”

“I threw my car keys in the sand.”

Troy laughed. “I saw that. I thought it was kind of a silly thing to do.”

“Very silly,” Karin said and laughed. “I’m not in a mindset to make good decisions today.”

“Okay,” Troy said and pulled a flashlight from his pocket. “Let’s find your keys and then I won’t ask you to make anymore decisions today.”

“That sounds like a good plan.” It took Karin and Troy over an hour in the dark expanse of the beach to locate her keys. Troy patiently and persistently searched for them, and after some time, he found them.

“You’re amazing,” she said when he handed the keys to her. “Anyone else would have just given up.”

“Nah, if we hadn’t found them in the dark, I would have brought out the metal detector in the morning. We would have found them eventually.” He said.

“I still can’t believe I threw them. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Karin said.

“Well, you’ve got them back now. Let’s go have that coffee.”

“Oh, thanks, but I can’t. I have to get home. I really shouldn’t have even come out here tonight.”

“So, why did you?” Troy asked. “Come out here tonight, I mean.”

“I’ve just been really confused about some personal issues and I was frustrated and I didn’t want to be at home because it’s also work and I needed a break from both.” Karin paused as Troy opened the back door of the house and let her in to the kitchen. “Your mom and I used to sit on this back deck and talk about life. I used to think that one day I would have a place just like this and, you know, raise kids here and grow old, like your parents did.”

“That sounds like a beautiful life.” Karin looked away blushing as Troy spoke softly to her.

“Before my dad died, I used to sit on the deck and talk to him about the same things.” Troy said. “I just never found the right girl.”

“How would you know when you did find her?” Karin asked as Troy handed her a towel. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m getting the floor all wet.”

“It will dry,” he said. “Wait here, I might have something you can wear.” Troy came back with a bathrobe. 

“It’s not great, but I can throw your clothes in the wash and then you won’t have to go home in them wet.” With anyone else, Karin would not have felt comfortable sitting around in a bathrobe with nothing on underneath, but there was something sweet about Troy, something that felt safe. She went into the bathroom and took off her clothes. She’d just slipped the bathrobe on when there was a knock at the door.

“I’m almost done.” She said.

“I was just going to suggest that you could hand me the clothes and I’ll start them in the wash if you want to use the shower the warm up.” Troy said. “I’ll make that coffee in the meantime.”

“Um, I really should be going…” Karin started to say and then changed her mind. “That’s a great idea. Thanks. I’ll be just a few minutes.” The hot water felt so good on her upper body and warmed her quickly, but it burned on her legs that were nearly freezing. When she’d finally reached a moderate temperature throughout her body, she dried off and put the bathrobe on.

“You’ve really cleaned the place up,” she said when she was out at the table.

“Yeah, at first I was going to just leave it and sell it as is. But, then, I came out here and I just couldn’t stand to see Mom and Dad’s house all a mess like that. And, I knew that Mom would be embarrassed if anyone saw it that way. So, when I thought about having it listed and having all kinds of people walking through it, I knew it would have upset her.”

“That’s really thoughtful.” Karin said. She sipped her coffee. “So, do you have it listed now?”

“No. I had the papers all signed and ready to go, but then I just couldn’t do it.” Troy said. “Like I said, my Dad always wanted one of us boys to keep the house and get married and raise our family here. I never thought it would be me, until I was out here working on the house and I just knew that I was supposed to stay here.” Troy poured more coffee for both of them. “I listed my other house with your friend instead, and I got an offer on it yesterday.”

“Oh, that’s great. So, you are going to live here permanently now then?”

“Yeah, this is my home now, and probably until I die.” Troy said. “Maybe someday I’ll have someone to share it with.”

“I know what you mean. I keep waiting for the right person, but love is so confusing.”

Find out what happens next here.

Dream Baby

Have you ever watched a baby dream? It's not just the peaceful baby face like you see in those cute Anne Geddes still photos.

It starts with the rapid eye movement that indicates a dream state.

Then, there are random smiles, followed by giggles, and then the tongue flickers.

She must be dreaming about nursing.

But, it's not all pleasant faces either.

Sometimes, there's the furrowed brow, the pouty lip and then an outright scream.

Oh, dear child, you are only two weeks old. What monsters could possibly haunt your mind?

Perhaps she dreamed the nipple disappeared and that she couldn't find her fingers.

I understand the practicality of sleeping when my baby sleeps, to fend off exhaustion and keep my sanity of course, but her face is so much more expressive when she sleeps than when she's awake - where she mostly just looks around wide-eyed like she is always stunned. But, in her dreams, I see so much personality and imagination and I can't wait for her to tell me all her thoughts and dreams. So, I sacrifice my own sleep to watch hers.

Second Chance November 26

The story starts here

Karin left the Piermont Complex in a daze of confusion and frustration. She drove in this daze to her office, changed into her work clothes and went to the house on First Street. She carried the bathroom tiles into the apartment and put them in the bathroom. Roger’s guys were still at the house.

“Look at this fabulous tile I found,” Karin said when she saw Roger. He took one from the box and examined it.

“These will go well in this room. I can lay them this weekend if you want.”

“That would be perfect. I’ll have the bathroom painted tonight.” Karin said.

“Did you call Consumers?”

“Yes, they’ll have the power on sometime between now and Monday morning.” Karin said. “The lady I talked to said maybe they could get someone out here today or tomorrow, but Monday morning at the latest.”

“That sounds about right. We’ve been running our tools off the generators all week. We’ll have everything just about done when they turn the electricity back on.” Ralph said with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Yeah, it seems like that’s how it always goes.” Karin agreed. Ralph laughed a slight guttural laugh.

“We’ll work with what we’ve got,” Roger said. “We’re charging the power tools on the truck or at home at night to save on the generator.”

“Do what you have to do.” Karin said. “I don’t need power to paint, and there’s plenty of painting to do.” Karin turned from Roger, and started to sort out the paint that she had brought over earlier in the week. She had decided to coat all the walls with a neutral beige color and the trim with a gloss white. She’d bought both in five gallon buckets.

“I’m going to start with the upstairs,” she told the guys. “That way you guys can keep working down here and I won’t be in your way. Do you need to do anything else up there?” They shook their heads.

“No, we’re all done upstairs except for laying the flooring, and we’re about to call it a day anyway.” One of them told her. Karin tucked a bag of rollers and brushes under her arm and grabbed a bucket of each color paint and headed up the stairs. She made quick work of the paint job, with head phones on and her favorite old metal ballads blaring through the speakers.

Several hours later, when Roger and the guys had cleaned up and gone home, she was still painting as it started to get dark. She didn’t want to quit, so she ran downstairs to see if the guys had left their generator so she could plug in some flood lights and keep working. A few minutes later, she had the generator going, extension cords running and trouble lights brightening up her work space. She could paint all night if she wanted to, or at least until the generator ran out of gas. She made a mental note to go out and pick up a few gallons of gasoline before going home for the night.

Karin had painted the entire upstairs apartment and was cleaning up her supplies when Jay walked in the door. He startled her and she gasped when she saw him.

“I thought we had a dinner date.” He said.

“Really? After this afternoon, you still thought we had a date?”

“Yes.” He said and she groaned. “What did I do?” he asked.

“Jay, from the day I met you, it’s been one mislead after another. I was a fool to think anything would be different now. I just can’t take any more surprises.”

“How did I mislead you?” he asked gently, moving toward her. She turned her body to avoid letting him touch her. She worked on cleaning up the painting materials and moving the painting buckets down the stairs. 

Jay grabbed the buckets from her hands and carried them for her. She started to resist his help, but then decided to let him carry the buckets. She gathered up the rest of the materials and turned off all the lights.

Neither of them spoke on the stairs, but once they were behind the door of the downstairs apartment, Jay began to speak.

“Karin, I can’t fix what I don’t know about. You have to tell me what I’ve done wrong.”

“Jay, ten years ago you left me to go out with someone else, you left town without even talking to me. I was devastated, then you showed after all these years and all those old feelings were still there, but so is everything else. The issues with your parents and all the secrecy about your job and…” Karin stopped and pursed her lips. She could feel tears coming into her eyes, and it made her angry. She gathered up the extension cords and prepared the materials for the next day.

“…and what?” Jay said softly after several minutes of silence.

“And you knew I was going to send a proposal to the Piermont Group. You didn’t think it worth mentioning that you are on the board that is going to decide the fate of my career and financial future?”

“I’m sorry.” Jay said. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want my being there to affect your decision to apply.”

“What?” Karin asked and rolled her eyes. She pushed passed him and walked out of the building. He stepped out of the doorway and she locked up. “What you just said makes no sense… no sense at all.” She turned her back to him and walked to her car.

“Karin…” She held up her hand.

“Don’t bother.” She said. “It’s late. I’m going home. I suggest you do the same.” She closed the car door and drove away.

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Second Chance: November 25

The story starts here.

Karin spent the next two days showing the apartments on North Madison, getting them rented and introducing herself to all of the tenants there. She composed and mailed formal introduction letters as well. 

She added a copy of this letter to each units file for her records.

She signed a contract with Lutheran Life Villages and made arrangements to move her mother to her new room there. The moving part was easy, the hospital handled the actual transfer and Karin only had to move her few personal possessions, primarily the clothing that she had brought over for her earlier in the week.

“I don’t like it here,” Virginia said as soon as the nurse left. She started opening the dresser drawers and closet and looking under the bed.

“What are you trying to find?” Karin asked, but she was pretty sure she knew that her mother was searching for the liquor bottles that she’d had hidden in her apartment.

“They steal my stuff. I don’t like it here.”

“No one stole anything from you, Mom. This is a nice place for you to stay.” Karin said. She walked over to the window and opened the curtain. “Look, you can see the gardens from your room.”

“Horse manure!” Virginia said angrily and then sat down on the bed and pouted. Karin tried to talk to her for few more minutes, but it was no use. When the nurse came back to the room, Karin said goodbye and left.

The precious time that was left over after these tasks, she devoted to physical labor hours at the First Street house. All the stress and anger and anxiety poured out of her body and into her arms and hands. They flew across the walls in a cleaning frenzy. In just two days, the walls were all scrubbed down, the carpets were all removed and disposed of, and the electrician had given the wiring his seal of approval.

The expenses were rapidly increasing, but the workers were efficient and making quick work of the project and the sooner the unit was rented, the less the insurance company would have to pay in lost rent.

As the filth was removed from the apartment inch by inch, Karin began to feel better. She even began to look forward to picking out the new color scheme when she went to Dunewood Floors and More. And as the work progressed, she looked forward to her Friday night dinner with Jay.

Every day, she worked from dawn to dusk, and then finished her office work in the late evenings with a tasty cocktail to help her fall asleep, sometimes two.

Late Thursday night, she was still at her desk, enjoying her third drink and not really getting any more work done, when Michelle came to the front door.

“I saw your light on” Michelle said. “You’re burning the candle at both ends I see.”

“Yeah, I’m really trying to get this First Street house done.” Karin said.

“You need to get some sleep.”

“Just finishing this drink and then I’m off to bed.”

“You look different… thinner even, but I just saw you a week ago.” Michelle looked at Karin with concern. 

“You need to eat.” She picked up Karin’s glass and took it to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Karin asked following her friend to the kitchen.

“Sending you to bed,” she answered as she dumped the contents of the glass into the sink.

“Um, that’s expensive.”

“I know. I’ll buy you a new bottle later, but right now, you’re going to bed.” Michelle said and forcefully pointed to the bedroom. “I’ll lock up on my way out.” Karin knew Michelle was right. She’d been working too many hours and she needed to get a decent nights’ sleep for her interview the next day. She nodded and walked to her bedroom where she was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

By Friday morning, she sat at her desk quietly going over all the possible scenarios for her interview that afternoon. As she paced the floor, she carried the portfolio that she had mailed to them, having reviewed it so many times, it was practically memorized. Karin tried to think of things she could add to the portfolio, more that she could offer them, but in the end, she had to admit that all she had to offer was already laid out in the documents she’d sent them.

Michelle showed up at her door early that morning.

“I didn’t think you ever got up this early,” Karin said, surprised to see her friend.

“I do when it’s this important.” Michelle held out a McDonald’s take out bag.

“What’s this?” Karin asked taking the bag.

“Lots of calories. Delicious, potentially nutritious, calories.” Karin had to laugh. It was true that she had hardly eaten anything all week. Once she got the go ahead to work on the First Street house, it took priority in her mind and except for the bare necessities required to keep her business running and the other apartments maintained, she devoted all of her time to working there. Eating had simply slipped her mind.

“You are a good friend.”

“I know.”

“Well, you might as well come in and have a cup of coffee, unless you don’t want to watch me eat.” Karin said ushering Michelle to the kitchen.

“Oh, I’ll stay and watch. I know if I leave you, you’ll probably get distracted by work and forget I was even here and all this food will go to waste.” Michelle said. “I got plenty for both of us, so pick out what you want and I’ll eat the rest.” Karin chose a sausage and cheese McGriddle and a hashbrown and let Michelle eat the breakfast burritos. Then, they split an order of hotcakes and scrambled eggs.

“Okay, I have to stop or I’m going to be sick.” Karin said.

“Well, I say you already look healthier. Food is good for you, even junk food is better than no food.” 

Michelle said.

“Thanks for making me get some food and rest.” Karin said as she cleaned off the table.

“Anytime you need a junk food breakfast, just holler. I usually eat plain oatmeal every morning, so this was a special treat for me too.” Michelle said.

“Okay, I’ll try to remember to let you know the next time I have a project so all encompassing that I forget to eat.” Karin said.

“I guess I’ll just have to come by every few day and check up on you then.”

“Don’t you already do that?”

“Oh, yeah, because I’m the greatest friend there ever was.” Michelle said pretending to give herself points in the air. “But, now, the friendship duty is done and I have to get to work.”

Karin said goodbye to her friend, put the portfolio into her briefcase and put away the rest of her files, and then she drove to Dunewood Floors and More with a clipboard full of measurements.

“What do you have that’s about to go in the clearance bin?” she asked the owner when she got to the store. 

They had a long standing relationship and she often bought her supplies from him, including the remnants that were otherwise difficult to sell. In exchange, he let her know ahead of time when he was planning a good sale and also gave her special deals on product that was about to go on sale or that was simply not very popular at the time.

“How much do you need?” he asked. Karin held out her list to him. He took the paper from her and started to show her samples of patterns he had available in the sizes that she needed. She sketched a map of each apartment and started filling in her choices as she made them. This allowed her to see what colors were going into each room and make sure that she didn’t miss anything.

“I really love this tile pattern,” Karin said over one of the pieces. “Do you have more of it?”

“Just this remnant.” He answered. “It’s been discontinued, which is really too bad because it is a popular pattern.”

“Okay, I’ll take what you have for the downstairs bathroom.” She made a note on her clipboard. “I still need a fairly large piece of carpet for the living room, something that will go nicely with that tile.” It took over an hour to pick out everything that she would need.

“Where are we delivering this to?” he asked as he wrote up her purchase order. She gave him the address and split the order into upstairs and downstairs deliveries. Depending on who he sent to make the delivery, she might end up with it all downstairs and then she would have to pay Roger’s guys to move half of it up the stairs, but she thought it worth asking the guys at Floors and More to do it for her.

“I’m going to take the tiles with me now though.” She said. She really liked the tile pattern that she’d picked out for the downstairs bathroom and she knew she couldn’t get more if anything happened to it, so she decided to put it in her trunk and drive it to the apartment herself.

She finished up with the portion of her job that required her to pretend she knew anything about interior decorating with plenty of time to spare before her two o’clock appointment at the Piermont Complex. She drove back to her office, checked her messages and then spent a few minutes in front of the mirror. She was already dressed for the meeting, but she was testing out her posture and facial expression.

“Should I look confident, or professional, or prestigious, or ??” Karin talked to herself in front of the mirror for several minutes, before finally putting her hair in a braid and adding a little lip gloss to her face. “Good luck.” She said to the lady in the mirror.

Karin pulled her car into the parking lot of the complex. Every parking spot had a designation. “Parking for Apartment 1B only” “Parking for Head of Maintenance only” and so on. There was no parking available for visitors or guests that she could see, so she pulled back out on to the road and parked along the curb in front of the building. She walked in the front door with her briefcase by her side.

The lobby was pristine and made her own office look shabby. The white walls shone in the sunlight and were almost blinding. The neutral brown and cream accents that adorned the trim work and the reception area were much more inviting. As she stepped up to the reception desk, she wondered why she’d never visited this building before. It was certainly part of her competition, although the clients she currently had weren’t interested in working with government subsidies, something the Piermont Complex dealt heavily in. Her research had shown that at least eighty-five percent of their units were subsidized. Her inexperience in that area was going to be her biggest obstacle, so she thought.

“Hi, I have a two o’clock appointment.” Karin said to the receptionist.

“For who?”

Karin was suddenly at a loss. She didn’t know who she was supposed to ask for. She pulled out the paperwork from her briefcase, but all it contained was her own portfolio. She didn’t have any of the company’s information, not even the name of the person who had called her. The receptionist continued to stare at her computer screen as she waited for Karin to answer.

“I’m here about the management position,” she finally managed to say. The receptionist looked up and scanned the lobby like she was expecting someone else to be there.

“What’s your name?”

“Karin Anderson.”

“Company name?”

“Anderson Properties.”

“Have a seat.” Karin sat down in the lobby and waited. She had her briefcase over her shoulder and her portfolio in her hand, and she felt completely out of her league.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she thought to herself. “I’m going to make a huge fool of myself.” Karin could feel her emotions rising up in her throat. She thought her nervousness might overcome her and cause her to cry right there in the lobby. She stood up, prepared to walk out the front door and forget that she’d ever even considered trying to get this contract. Then, she heard her name.

“Anderson. You can go in now.” Karin turned around to see the door just beyond the reception desk was open. It was too late to walk away. She bit down on the side of her tongue to try and keep herself focused on the physical pain rather than the emotional trauma going on inside her head. She held her head high and walked into the board room.

There was one empty seat right in front of her. She set her portfolio down on the table and sat down in the chair. Only then, did she look up and see the faces of all the board members. Not all of them were looking at her. Opposite her at the end of the table, a man with sandy blonde hair looked down at his notes.

“No,” she almost said out loud as he looked up from the table and his bright green eyes met hers. Before she could even process what she saw in front of her, the woman to her right began talking. She introduced herself and then each of the other board members in turn. When she reached the opposite end of the table, she said, “…and the CEO of our parent company, Jacob Palmer…” Karin hardly heard the names of anyone else at the table, but he gave no indication that he even knew her. The entire meeting went by in a blur. They asked her questions and she answered them, but Karin barely remembered anything that was said by the time it was over.

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Second Chance November 24

The story starts here.

Karin wanted to keep cleaning up, but the Fire Marshall had ordered the power turned off at the building, and the first task on Roger’s list was to repair the electrical issues that had caused the short in the first place. There would be no lights until the electrician was done and the building inspector signed off and then she would have to wait for Consumers Energy to send out one of their technicians to inspect it as well before they would turn it back on.

There was nothing more she could do in the dark, so she grabbed her clothes that she’d left hanging in the closet, along with several items of her mother’s that she thought she could wash and save. Karin drove home with tears still streaming down her face. Every time she thought she had caught her breath, another memory invaded her mind and caused her to start blubbering again.

She parked in the garage and went in the back door when she got home. She stayed at the back of the house, taking a shower, working on laundry and cleaning her own kitchen and bathroom. Nothing was clean enough for her. Any messages or mail waiting at the front office would have to wait until morning, she didn’t want to risk anyone catching her out front and knocking on the door, she just didn’t think she had the energy to face another person.

She opened the cupboard in her own kitchen and saw a stock of liquors.

“Is this how it started, Momma? Just a few bottles? An average household bar supply? When did it get out of control?” Karin said out loud.

Karin’s own stock included Amaretto, Rum, Vodka, Whiskey and a few bottles of wine; just what she would need for any occasion, and she could always make whatever cocktail she was in the mood for. Her refrigerator contained sweet and sour mix, cans of soda and Kahlua. Karin didn’t drink every night, when she had a lot of work to do, she didn’t even consider the liquor cabinet, but went straight for the coffee pot.

“I don’t have a problem,” she insisted to the emptiness of her house. Then, she poured herself an Amaretto Sour and went to her bedroom. She sipped the drink while she watched late night television, and soon welcomed a deep and peaceful sleep.

In the morning, she set out to get her paperwork done early so that she could get over to First Street and not waste any daylight. She dialed her voice mail and the first message was from the previous morning, she was ready to press the button that would delete the message assuming it was the first call from Troy Bennett, the one that had come through when she was on the phone with the Dunewood Press. But, then the voice she heard was unfamiliar. She quickly grabbed a pen and paper and started to scratch out notes.

“Discuss proposal… Piermont Group… schedule interview…Yikes!” Karin wrote on her notepad. She jotted down the phone number, and could barely stand to listen to the rest of the routine messages that filled her voice mail box. As soon as they were done, she hung up the phone and dialed the number for the Piermont Group.

“Our board will meet this Friday,” the secretary told her. “You may come to be interviewed at two o’clock if you still want to be considered for the position.” Karin was a little off put by the coldness of the process, but said that yes, of course, she would be at the interview. She added it to her planner, let out a little squeal of excitement and then turned back to the work in front of her.

As she processed paperwork and put away files, she noticed the loan application still out on her desk. She thought about how nice it would be to have a home to go to at the end of the day. Moving into the back room of her office space had made so much sense when she first got started, but she didn’t like the feeling that she had to hide out if she didn’t want to talk to anyone. A home away from the office would be good for her sanity.

Karin imagined herself pouring a drink and escaping to the back deck of the house to overlook Lake Michigan. It would be impossible to stay stressed out in that environment. If she could get the Piermont contract, then she was sure that she could get the loan. She thought about calling the Realtor and letting her know that she was interested in the property, but then decided it was better to wait until she knew for sure that she could do it.

Karin finished up her office work and then checked the laundry. She had run her mother’s clothes through her machines twice with some heavy duty detergent, and a heavily perfumed fabric softener. They smelled okay, she still thought there was a hint of smoke, but her mother was a smoker so she thought she might never get it out completely. She at least had some clean clothes to take to her mother.

She packed her backpack with her own grubby clothes for cleaning up later in the day and went to run errands. She put the back later sign up, knowing that she would have to take a break and make it back to the office at some point in the day.

Her first stop was the property on North Madison, where she caught a few more tenants at home and let them know who she was and what her job would be as she took over managing the property.

“Also, we do have one vacancy here, so if you have a friend with good references who is looking for a place, be sure to have them call my office.” She told the current tenants, giving them her business card.

 Next, she headed for the hospital, with the clean clothes for her mother.

“I’m going to check out Lutheran Life Villages today,” Karin told her mother’s doctor.

“I think that’s a good choice,” he assured her. She left the clothes with the nurses, so that they could help Virginia get dressed after her shower. Karin left the hospital and went to the nursing home just down the street. The nurses had given her a list of questions to ask at the home to ensure that her mother would get the care she needed. She left the office of admissions at Lutheran Life Villages with a contract in her hand. Virginia’s doctor had given the all clear for Virginia to leave the hospital as soon as Karin could show that she had a place to live where she would receive proper care.

When all her professional business was complete, she headed back to the office to change her clothes. She saw the number one flashing and tapped the play button on the answering machine as she stepped into the bathroom to change into her cleaning and painting clothes. Max LaLane’s voice came through the speaker. She replayed his message after she got dressed and called him back.

She called Roger on her way out the door to tell him that they were all set to get started on the repairs at the First Street house and it looked like the insurance company would easily cover his estimate. That was good news for both of them. She called attorney John Kinsmore to give him the news as well and to let him know that the work was already underway.

Karin met the upstairs tenant outside the building when she arrived.

“Hi, Ms. Anderson. My brothers are helping me get all of my stuff out today. The insurance is going to cover everything that I lost.” She said.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Karin said.

“Since a lot of the stuff in the apartment is trash from all the smoke, would it be okay if we just put it in the dumpster out back?” she asked.

“Dumpster?” Karin said.

“Yeah, they dropped it off this morning. I figured it was for the clean up.” Karin looked around the back of the house and saw a twenty yard dumpster sitting in the back yard.

“Wow. Roger is fast.” Karin said. “Yes, go ahead and use the dumpster for anything in the apartment that you can’t salvage.” Karin went into the downstairs apartment and started hauling the garbage bags that she had filled the night before out to the dumpster. Then, she started to fill some more. When Roger arrived with his hired guys, they helped her move out the furniture. Between the two apartments, the dumpster was nearly full by the end of the day.

“I’ve got the bathroom all cleared out so that the electrician can get in there tomorrow.” Karin told Roger.

“Okay, he’ll be here in the morning. I can meet him so you don’t have to, and the guys will be back again tomorrow to tear up the carpets in both units.” Roger said.

“Great. We’re making good progress so far.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Karin was left alone in the building again. The unit was basically empty. She had filled her car with garbage bags of clothing and things of her mother’s that she thought she could save, and everything else had gone to the dumpster. Once Roger’s guys had shown up, the clean out went faster than she had expected. A friend who owned a professional cleaning business had sold her a few gallons of the cleaning product that they used for smoke damage and she grabbed a bottle and read the directions. She made up a bucket of cleaning solution, set up a ladder and started in one corner of the bathroom. She knew that the contractors would make more mess in there and it would have to be cleaned several times, but the plumbing still worked and she figured if she could get it clean enough, they’d be able to use it and that would save them from running to the local gas station every time someone needed a bathroom. It wasn’t much, but getting it clean made her feel like she was accomplishing something. She raced against the setting sun to get it finished before her daylight ran out.

When it was dark, she went back to the office and spent the rest of the evening sorting through the garbage bags of Virginia’s personal items trying to see what she could save. The counselor at the nursing home had told her that their residents were generally happier if they had things from home that helped them to feel more secure. She figured that this would be especially true for her mother who no longer had the mental capacity to understand what was happening to her.

Karin was just about to call it a night when the phone rang. She considered ignoring it, but then changed her mind and picked it up. It was Jay.

“I’m going to be in town again this weekend. Can I see you?” he said.

“I just got the go ahead to work on the place that had the fire. All of time has to be spent there. I can’t afford to take another weekend off.”

“How about just one dinner?” he asked.

“Ummm,” she hesitated. “I can do one later dinner. There’s no electricity over there, so I’ve got to make the most of every minute of daylight available.”

“I’ll take it.” He said. “Friday night, dinner after dark. I’ll be over at ten o’clock on Friday night.”

“Okay.” She said.

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Second Chance: November 23

The story starts here

Karin was busy with paperwork for the Bennett’s North Madison property. She’d been over to the building and found her hunch was correct. The apartment that hadn’t shown any income was definitely empty, but it was also clean and ready to rent. So, she was preparing an ad for the local paper and new lease documents for the buildings. The phone rang.

“Oh, hey Michelle, what’s up?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Michelle said. “Where’ve you been all weekend?”

“I spent it with Jay, out at his parent’s farm.” Karin said.

“The whole weekend?” Michelle squealed.

“No, not exactly, but mostly yes.” Karin said.

“Eeeek! That’s so awesome. So, what did you do?”

“Mostly we just talked about old times. He cooked for me and we watched a movie. We just hung out.” Karin said.

“Oh, that is so sweet,” Michelle said.

“He really was.”

“So, are you guys over the whole parental approval issues then?”

“No, not at all.” Karin said. “He wants me to trust him, and I want to trust him, but I don’t know how it will ever work. In fact, Troy Bennett asked me out on Friday and I almost said yes.”

“Troy Bennett? He is twice your age, that would be like going out with your dad. Gross.” Michelle said.

“He’s not that bad.” Karin said. “He is a really nice guy and he just buried his mom. I think he was just looking for some company.”

“I still think it’s weird.”

“Yeah, it sort of was weird.” Karin admitted, “but, it’s not like Dunewood is full of eligible bachelor’s.”

“That is true, but, I think you can do better than some middle aged divorcee.”

“Anyway, I didn’t say yes. It just got me thinking that maybe I’m wasting my time waiting for something that I can never have.” Karin said. “But, on a different note, business is good. I’ve got the Bennett account, I just got the go ahead to start cleaning up from the fire on First Street and those are the only vacancies that I have so my numbers are staying in line.”

“Sounds busy as usual.” Michelle said. “My client just walked in. Give me a call if you are free for lunch at all this week.”

“Okay, bye” Karin hung up the phone and returned to the pile of papers on her desk. She had driven over to the North Madison property that morning and caught a few of the tenants at home. She always liked to meet the tenants in person, so that they would have a face to go with the name on the letterhead when she began to correspond with them. It wouldn’t make a difference in every case, but she believed that tenants were more likely to respond positively to her if they saw her as a real person doing a job rather than just a name. She planned to schedule extra time around the showings of the empty unit to try and meet the other tenants.

Karin was on the phone with the Dunewood press, placing a classified ad when another call came through. She let the call waiting beep and allowed the call to revert to voice mail while she finished placing her ad. When she hung up, the phone rang again before she could dial in to check the voice mail message center.

“Hello, Troy. How are you this morning?” Karin said.

“Good. I just called because I forgot to tell you that the garage behind building one and the basement are both full of my dad’s stuff. He never rented those areas out to anyone, but used the basement for storage and an office. The garage was his workshop, he did all the maintenance on the properties himself.” Troy said.

“Yes, I remember your mom telling me that.”

“After he died, my mom hired that Roger guy, the same one that you use, I think, and Dad’s tools have just been sitting in the garage ever since.”

“Troy, I’m really glad you called, this is important information. I’m glad to know that Roger is already familiar with the property.” Karin said. “What do you want to do with the space now?”

“I don’t know. I have to talk with my brothers and sisters.” Karin thought she heard Troy’s voice crack just slightly. “They’ll probably just want to clean it out and sell everything.”

“Alright, well, there’s no rush on my end. It doesn’t interfere with my job in any way.” Karin said.

“Okay, I just wanted to let you know.”

“Great. While I have you on the phone, I did go over to the house this morning and the unit we talked about is empty, and I just got off the phone with the Press to place an ad for it. I’m sure I can get it rented pretty quickly.” Karin said.

“Oh, good. I’m sorry that I didn’t know more about the place when I hired you.”

“It’s fine.” Karin said. Troy’s voice sounded especially worn out this morning. There was a part of her that wanted to reach out to him and be a friend, but she also wanted to be cautious not to send the wrong message and have him think she was romantically interested. It was such a fine line to walk. “Things are going to work out just fine, Troy. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of things there and let you know if there’s anything I need.”

“Alright, well, goodbye then.”

“Goodbye Troy.”

Karin looked at the clock and put away her paperwork. She packed a bag with grubby clothes for working in and packed some basic cleaning supplies in the back of her car, just in case the adjuster was willing to let her start cleaning right away. She hung up the Closed sign and headed down to First Street.

She ran through the McDonald’s drive thru and ate a sandwich on the way. She finished her sandwich parked outside the house, and then popped a couple of mints to freshen up her breath. She took photos of the exterior of the house while she waited for the adjuster to show.

Max LaLane introduced himself when he arrived. He had dark curly hair and a thick beard and mustache. Karin thought he looked more like a sailor than an insurance adjuster, but she’d never had to work with an adjuster before, so she hadn’t really known what to expect.

“It’s nice to meet you.” She said politely. She usually made small talk with everyone, but he made her nervous, not because of his appearance or demeanor, but just because of the job he had to do. If he gave her numbers that were lower than she could get the work done for, she was going to be doing a lot of it herself and cutting into her profits, so she wanted to be careful not to say anything that might have an effect on how he calculated his numbers.

Inside the downstairs apartment, the fire damage was visibly contained to the bathroom, but smoke had damaged every inch of the place. Karin and Max both worked silently, shooting pictures and taking notes. Karin’s camera moved to the couch where she could see the outline of her mother’s body in the smoke stained fabric. On the floor, she saw the tipped over clear bottle. She didn’t need to check the label, she knew it was gin. There was a full ash tray on the floor beside the bottle. Karin noticed two different brands of cigarettes in the ash tray.

“Well, at least you didn’t finish that fifth by yourself.” Karin thought. But, she was thankful that her mother’s guest, whoever he was, was not involved in the fire.

When they went upstairs, they saw that the fire had moved up the walls of the house rather than spreading wide, so the upstairs bathroom which was right above the downstairs bathroom had the most fire damage as well. The smoke damage was less intense in the upper unit, but still quite severe.

“Have you had a lot of experience with this type of damage?” Karin asked Max when they were back outside.

“Yes, fire damage is all I’ve done for the last fifteen years.” He answered.

“Wow, I didn’t know there were that many fires around here.”

“I cover the western half of the state.” Max explained.

“Oh, that makes sense.” Karin said nodding. “So, how does this place compare to other’s you’ve seen?”

“Well, it’s still standing. The structure doesn’t appear to be compromised, so I will be recommending repair rather than demolition, but that’s all I can tell you for sure today.”

“Can I let the tenants in to try and salvage their personal items, and start getting things cleaned out?” Karin asked.

“Sure, go ahead. I have all the information that I need from here. I’ll have more information for you tomorrow. Is this still a good number to reach you at?” Max held out his clipboard with her name and phone number at the top.

“Yes.”

“Do you have an alternate number you’d like to add?” Karin nodded and gave Max her cell phone number.

“You should start getting estimates for the repairs right away and I should be able to tell you tomorrow how much we will be covering.”

Karin called Roger as soon as Max was gone and told him to come right over. She grabbed the cleaning supplies and her backpack from the car and went inside. She changed in her mother’s bedroom and hung her clothes up in Virginia’s closet.

Karin grabbed the box of garbage bags and opened one. She put on a pair of gloves and starting pitching things from the floor into the bag. She worked fast and forcefully, venting her anger with her mother into every piece of trash and food and clothing that her mother had left all over the floor. Then, she heard Roger’s voice from the living room.

“Hey, what are you doing? Your face is bright red.” Roger said when he saw her.

“I’m just cleaning up,” she answered, a little embarrassed. “I must have gotten hot in there.”

“Well, be careful, and drink lots of water. You don’t want to overheat here all by yourself.” Roger said gently. He had been the maintenance man for the Marquette’s when they were alive and was a good friend of their family. He’d been fixing up old houses and finding creative ways to keep things working without breaking the bank for over fifty years.

“Thanks Roger, that’s really good advice.” Karin answered. “Most of the damage is in the bathrooms, both here and upstairs. The upstairs apartment is unlocked if you want to go up there, but the tenant is on her way over with her guy to try and collect on her renter’s insurance. I’m going to keep cleaning up. Holler if you have any questions.” Karin went back to the bedroom, and continued throwing things away, but with a little less force.

Roger had a list of repairs that he would need to make along with supplies and an estimate for labor within an hour.

“I padded the labor some, because it’s a bigger job than I can do myself so I’ll have to hire some guys and you know that they don’t all work as fast as we’d like them to.” Roger said.

“Thanks for getting this done so fast,” Karin said. “I really appreciate it. The insurance adjuster is supposed to give me a spending limit tomorrow.”

“Well, make sure that you are adding in all of your hours too.”

“Right now I’m just cleaning up Virginia’s mess.” Not everyone knew that Virginia was Karin’s mother, but Roger did.

“That doesn’t matter. You work, you get paid. Mr. Marquette wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Yes sir,” Karin said. Roger left and she went back to cleaning up the bedroom. Whether she turned in any hours for it or not, she felt she had to clean up Virginia’s mess herself, she couldn’t ask anyone else to do it. 

She soon got over the stench of the smoke and was numb to the amount of garbage that had accumulated around the apartment. For awhile, Karin had been bringing her lunch to the apartment as an excuse to see how Virginia was keeping up with the house, her lack of housekeeping skills had been a problem for as long as Karin could remember. She would schedule time each day to have lunch and do some general picking up, wash dishes, put away some laundry, take out the trash and so on. Then, she got busier and only came a couple times each week and now, as she entered into her busiest season she just hadn’t made time to visit her mother. She knew she would have to clean up the garbage, and she accepted that.

It was the bottles that got to her, the seemingly endless bottles of alcohol, mostly empty or near empty, but everywhere, piles in the closet, hidden in the dresser drawers, behind the couch and in every cupboard in the kitchen. She filled bag after bag with bottles and she kept herself from crying. The sun set along the gorgeous western coast at the edge of the town of Dunewood, Michigan while thousands of tourists watched from their boats and beach houses and towels in the sand, and Karin just kept finding more and more bottles and filling more and more bags.

As the apartment began to get dark, she returned to Virginia’s bedroom, where it was the cleanest. She pulled back the blankets and the mattress itself was generally undamaged. In the bottom drawer of the dresser, Karin found a set of sheets that were virtually untouched from the fire except for a slight scent of smoke. She lay the sheet out across the top of the mattress and as the last bit of sunlight streamed in through the window, she lay down on top of the sheet, curled into a fetal position and cried out.

“Why, Momma, why?”

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