2 Weeks Later

It has been exactly two weeks, nearly to the minute, that I was evacuated from the building. I barely got any sleep last night because I was thinking about this sad anniversary and the 5 hours I stood around in awe outside that night. When I left the building, I thought that I would be back in my apartment within an hour or two. I was carrying a glass of water with me, which I figured I'd drink while the AFD did their thing. After all, the smoke was coming from the other side of the building, I was on the first floor, and the fire department was going to be able to knock out whatever was causing that bit of smoke in no time.

When the flames started shooting from the roof of the building, I felt terrible for the folks on that side, but I was still confident that I would be able to salvage many of my things that the smoke may not have destroyed.

About three hours in, there were still large flames coming from the building, it was spreading to my side, and there was just a constant dump of water all over the building. There was no sign of it letting up. I definitely wasn't getting back in the building that night.

My neighbor Raisa and her family were kind enough to take me in that night. They practically had to pry me away from the area. "You definitely won't be able to get back in tonight. It'll be best for you if you just get some rest now." It was around 1am when we stopped by a south valley Wal-Mart so that we could pick up panties and toothbrushes. I was in a daze. I couldn't eat. I had to force down a quesadilla and lots of water. I woke up the next morning feeling like I had eaten an ashtray.

I'm not sure how to commemorate everything that has happened in the last two weeks. It has been an incredible experience with the most extreme emotional swings. I'll touch on it all eventually...