So, I did it. I went to the old house. Parked across the street. Talked with some neighbors. Their house was spared, but their sister’s home around the corner was not. They had spent the day sifting through rubble and found her wedding ring. The ring part was melted, but she could clearly see the diamonds. The neighbor I wanted to see most, who hugged me and cried the day I moved, was not home.  Her house was spared and I had seen that before, but things are so messy there so I guess she is staying somewhere else. Someone had put a giant sifter, a new shovel, a new rake and a bucket in the yard of the house. Red Cross volunteers and paramedics stopped to ask if we needed masks, water or chapstick. It was quite strange standing in the backyard looking into my kitchen with the lovely pass-through window. The twisty tree in the front yard I always called “the twisty love tree” to my husband is burned and injured beyond saving. It was easier and harder than I thought it would be. Surreal, I guess. I want to take them all homemade cookies.

I am guessing I am going to be doing a lot of baking in the next week.