Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the beginning of this journey. On October 18, 2020, First Reader and I were given two hours to pack what we could fit in four vehicles and get off the mountain. Family members drove up to help us pack and get all of our cars out of harm’s way.

We spent several days not knowing whether our home survived, only to get the heart-wrenching news that it did not.

It took us a while to get used to the fact that we were virtually homeless. Were it not for the generosity of Best Riding Buddy, I don’t know what we would have done. In the two years since we were displaced, we’ve recovered from the blow of losing everything, more or less. We’re rebuilding our home and should be back on the mountain soon. How soon, of course, depends on the winter weather and getting the pieces of our modular up the mountain before the snow flies.

For the moment, we are at the “watching paint dry” stage of construction.

This past week, the weather cooperated, and the concrete cured without having to cover the structure. Friday afternoon, the walls were damp-proofed. The next step will be to prepare and pour the slab. Then, we’ll wait again for more concrete to cure and for the rest of the basement framing to be built. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the weather keeps cooperating until we can get the house up the mountain.

In the meantime, we wait as the “paint” dries.