Valentines was understandably more insane than we expected. I worked out of our storage unit (same building but further from the fire), and Fran stayed in the smoke filled soot covered pit that was tulip tree. I know I got the best of that deal! Even still I came home every night with soar lungs and tired feet (the walk between our two locations isn't long but not so short the 80th time). Since then we've evacuated the shop and done a complete inventory and disposal of our merchandise. It's been a bit traumatic, terribly inconvenient, and rather exhausting. We hope that with our insurance and that of the building owners we'll come out ahead.
I suppose an account of what happened on the 9th might be interesting to y'all. I'll tell it from my perspective and try to keep from wandering too much. I had a busy morning and was a bit late getting to work...usually I'm there around 11:30 and have some time to get myself organized before I officially clock in. That Tuesday I was still at home at 11:40. Fortunately Oscar (my bird) was taking the day off, he really loves work most days but was in a very bitey mood. I noticed from a block away (half way to work) that there were a LOT of flashing lights in the area. As I got closer I saw that all the entrances to our parking lot were coned off and those lights were mostly on fire trucks...not good...so I took a slight detour and pulled over to be politely concerned.
"Excuse me officer, I work in that building, can you tell me what's happening?" Of course this was a day when I left my cell phone conveniently at home BRILLIANT. They were really concerned about exactly which store I worked in...
"oh the flower shop...just a minute"...reaches for radio on collar...
"is everything ok?"
"the building's on fire." straight faced. I started counting the fire trucks and trying to see anyone i recognised.
"is anyone hurt?"more speaking into the collar...
"if I park here can I go look for my boss"...blank look followed by more talking into the radio
"ok, park over there and I believe she's over by the sihk temple"
huge sigh of relief from me!
so I parked in what wasn't any sort of normal parking spot (hey, the cop told me to!) and hurried across the parking lot looking for any sort of familiar face. I finally found one! But it was Oscar (not my bird, the guy who's been training with us so he can open his own flower shop) who had been on a delivery and could only tell me who had been at work that morning. So we both wandered around until we found someone we recognized.
Have you ever noticed how many people chase fire trucks? I hadn't until i started sifting through all those faces trying to see ANYONE I knew. The whole time I'm imagining what might have happened and trying to see past the fire trucks and the army of fire fighters and gawkers who were swarming all over the front of the building. Seriously folks, have some pity. If you don't belong there, don't get in the way!
About the same time I spotted Fran and Sherlynn, I also saw the tv crew. Everyone was ok. We stood around feeling helpless and watching the firemen do their jobs for an hour. Before we could even get back into our store (what an adventure that was!) we had other florists calling us to warn us that the big funeral we were doing that afternoon was nervous and shopping for a new florist. Bless them, they told the customer that Fran had a whole network of florist friends and that she would get their flowers there in time for the funeral.
We keep counting all the ways in which we were VERY lucky. The fire lasted only 17 minutes from calling 911 till it was out. Fran was the one who made the emergency call, while she was also emptying both of our fire extinguishers onto a fire taller than her. The owners of the shop next door had apparently left their space heater on and then gone to lunch...or something...it still sounds terribly suspicious to me. But I'm sticking to the basic theory that Cozar was just a mean hearted, creepy, miserable little man, and his bad karma caught up with him. If that's the case then some of Fran's good karma must have caught up with her too. Cozar's video store is a burned out melted irreparable mess. Tulip Tree had LOTS of damage, has to be gutted, but will come back bravely and with hope. No one was hurt, and thanks to Fran's heroic fire fighting efforts the whole building didn't burn. It could have been MUCH worse.
We were only closed during the 2 hours when the firemen wouldn't let us in the building. Pretty amazing when you look at it that way. We hauled our flowers outside made up and delivered that funeral, then began making plans to get through the holiday.
Thanks to some good friends, a few precious customers who made us smile, and that fabulous state of mind where you just quit asking questions and just do what you gotta we did it! Oh and Scotty! He was the quiet hero who started by bringing me my phone while I was standing in a cloud of smoke trying to figure out how to put the pieces together and then a million other essential tasks. Crowned by hooking up a water heater for us so that we could wash vases and EVERYTHING ELSE, but most importantly our hands! Did you know that it's possible to scrub and soak in the tub for an hour and then have dirty hands again just because you moved your clothes into the hamper? Yup.
We've been putting in long hours and breathing in lots of things that will probably kill us someday, but the shop's empty, we're set up to do business in our storage unit (feels a bit like working in the snow shack did TINY). And we're just happy every day that we're not on fire! Now we just have to keep up with orders, do all the insurance paperwork, and choose paint colors. That sounds easy, but watching our home (Fran only goes home to sleep) get torn up and hauled away is a bit uncomfy.
Yesterday Mom and Holly came down from USU and we got to make flowers for the annual senatorial wives luncheon. This year it was focused on the space dynamics lab. FUN!!! We used all kinds of cool flowers and got to be ABSOLUTELY creative. It was a fantastic reward, and utterly exhausting. Today was the event, it went of very well, I got to see people I love working with (we've been doing this for several years now). No wonder Mom loves her job.
You probably can't see them, but there are space shuttles, planets made from chrysanthemums, and space wheat (ten points if you understand what that is).
I've made some really neat flower arrangements lately, and for once have pictures, so here ya go! The first one is a sympathy tribute I did for a friends grandmother she always said that if you were gonna buy that you had to get the shoes to match.
And this I made for Matt & Mason it was the highlight of my oh so wonderful Valentines Day.
Long post. Sorry, but it's been a long time. I'm beyond tired, and just want to go snuggle a kitty right now. Luv y'all!
-m
