Statement of Loss

Statement of Loss

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This procedure, with the house being destroyed is quite a bitch. It's a lot of work. Receipts, insurance papers, checks getting mailed to various people to be signed. My house is supposed to be torn down, it has yet to happen. Hurricane Irene came on August 27.  It's been a while.
My insurance dude recently sent me an email with an attachment to review. I opened it up and it was titled "Statement of Loss."
My Statement of Loss is ginormous, listing all the things I think about and don't think about in my house. I smiled. As a writer words are very important to me. I believe that printed words have power. In that Statement of Loss? There was only victory. The stuff we brought with us to live in the apartment filled a few suitcases and a few boxes. The rest is either in a landfill or being cleaned. But the stuff that really mattered could never have a neat price typed next to it. My children, my husband, the silly animals.
So this blog is my rebuttal to that Statement of Loss. I'm going to make my Statement of Win. There are no prices, because there is no adjustor that could come up with a number for the following:
1)   Starting with the tree and the house that together, through either a freak chance or careful coordinating of all of the grandparents in Heaven, protected us. The tree landed on a load-bearing wall on the most perfect place on the roof. Both died in this process, but we were able to get out. Many, many trees went straight through the houses like a knife. So yes, I'm grateful to both. I will be saving two bricks from the house and turning the tree into my new dining room table. As thanks.
2)   The kindness and shelter of my neighbors, a local hotel, and area friends that literally kept us dry in the storm. I learned that a reflex for the people in this part of the country is to help one another. Stunning. It can and does give you a new pair of eyes when glancing around a store or a school, there are so many heroes there just waiting for the moment to help someone else.
3)   My Internet community of friends taught me to accept help. I always thought if you were in need of aid, asking would feel awful, receiving would feel shameful. I'm here to tell you that getting help? It's amazing. It makes you stronger when you have so much to face. It makes you feel loved in a way that is a hug that sticks to your heart.
4)   Realizing that the stuff I have? It just doesn't matter. I'm here in a rented apartment, with rented plates, rented pillows, everything white. And I'm happy. I thought all the nonsense was what made my house a home. It is not. The kids, their noises, the stupid dogs barking at every fart, music playing, that's home. It's a whole lot easier to clean too, with just these few things.
5)   Knowing that what my family and I have been through is annoying, upsetting but it is nothing. Nothing compared to true loss. True loss that shakes your world, the missing of someone special, an illness that you have to fight. In the end stuff is stuff and I'm glad I know that.
And I could go on and on. I could easily fill double the pages that the insurance company did with victory, blessings, and laughter. I don't expect this whole process to be easy and certainly not fast, but I if I don't learn a lesson from all of this than I'm a jerk. So take that universe! 
Statement of Win.