Balancing Real Work with Fire Work

A few weeks ago we took a break from all the “fire work” and went back to our real jobs. We both have great workplaces that let us be away for a while. Although we both returned to a huge back log to deal with.

The first thing I did back at work was a string of repetitive monotonous tasks. The plain simplicity of a mindless job I could do blindfolded was peaceful and affirming. I realized just how much of a black hole life after the fire has been, wrought with question marks and complicated things to learn at every turn.

It didn’t take long for fire work to take a back burner. Life at real work was a refuge for only a short time and the vital tasks couldn’t be ignored and started rearing their heads, requiring my time and focus in meetings and projects.

As a result we’ve shifted our post-fire efforts into lower, slower gears. Which, since Allstate refuses to do business via any electronic means, turns out to be a suitable pace. This is also suitable for the building schedule of Juneau, which is filled up for the summer and booking for next spring.

And it’s suitable for our hearts and minds, which mostly need the space and time to heal. So our focus at the time is how to organize our project in such a way to maximize our efficiency, move it forward at a respectable clip, and not drive ourselves to outright exhaustion.

Rebuilding a family home and coordinating with insurance, banks, contractors, volunteers, stores, landlord, rental agencies, landfill, excavators, city permits, engineers, ambulance chasers and labs… not to mention still paying bills, getting fed, getting the toddler to play dates and keeping our spirits up… is a full time job. How we’re going to do this in addition to our “real” jobs is going to be quite a feat.

Fortunately we have each other, our family, great friends, and a great community. And as my Grandpa Tom says, we’re both “a couple of really smart kids”.