I have been reading through old emails and facebook messages sent to and by Paul and me in the early days after the fire. Every single one from us was full of gratitude and hope. We were alive and thankful and that was pretty much all we had to say.

We were concerned about the children. We knew that arson is NOT good for kids, but for ourselves we were astonishingly optimistic.

It should be noted we were in the very early days with insurance and had not yet spoken to the township. Paul had called all the utilities and we assumed that our work there was done until the house was rebuilt.

My final post in the series, “What Not to Say” on Flunking Sainthood is up. I address accepting help, which is so hard, especially, and surprisingly, when you need it the very most.

I am going to keep talking about giving and receiving, of being haven for each other.  We will make mistakes. We’ve all said stupid things we regret. Just this morning I remembered something I said, years ago, and winced.

“To err is human.”  Right?

One of the messages sent to Paul, one day after the fire. It was from an acquaintance, a former co-worker he hadn’t heard from in years.

“I heard about your house. That’s terrible. But other than that, how are you doing?”

“To forgive is divine.” I don’t think forgiveness was necessary in this instance. I’m sure Paul just rolled his eyes.

I laughed and made it a story.