It's taken a long time to send out a newsletter and blog because typing this makes it more real.
On Wednesday, December 17th, at about 5:50 AM, a tree fell on our house and crushed Kent, the love of my life, killing him instantly and trapping me.
The fire rescue guys, the insurance guy, and the engineer who spoke to Kent’s sister all said that neither my son nor I should have survived, especially my son. His bedroom was right below ours and most of our room caved in on top of his, but fell in a circle around him with just enough room for him to get out. I still don’t know how I got out from beneath the tree limbs and roof supports that fell on me.
Aside from a panic attack at the ER and some scrapes and bruises, I wasn't really hurt. The worst was inhaling and swallowing some of that weird foam insulation. Better than fiberglass, I guess.
I couldn't eat or speak much the first couple days after. I'm still having nonverbal periods and memory blocks.
I got super lucky with friends and family taking over. My movie club co-admin set up a Go Fund Me, which is dire because now my son and I are staying at a hotel until temporary housing is found. We won’t know if the house is rebuildable until probably February, and if it is, it could take up to a year before we’re able to move back in. I really hope we can.
I’m going to be partly out of work as I work with the family to handle insurance, contractors, and the daunting task of salvaging and handling all that was left behind. And there's so much the insurance won't cover, like death expenses, only having one running car that needs a ton of work...just...I'm scared and overwhelmed.
The loss of Kent wasn’t just as a life partner, though that is the most painful and irreplaceable. He was the IT Guy for two family businesses as well as for my author website, which is currently down, right when I have a new book release.
I don’t even know how we’re going to handle everything that was lost in that regard, or even if someone could be hired to recover or replace what he built and maintained.
But losing him as a partner still hurts worse.
He was tied with my son in the best things to happen to me. He was like a real life romance hero and supported me in everything I did. He did countless things to make me happy, like painting the house purple. ðŸ˜
I'd long gone by my first and middle name for my art and my romance books because I didn't want a man to get credit for anything I did. But then, because Kent encouraged and helped my author career in every way, like taking care of responsibilities when I wrote, cheering on my progress, giving me and teaching me Photoshop for covers and promo stuff, assisting me at cons, the list goes on. So when I needed a pen name for my non-romance horror stuff, I took his.
We were supposed to get married for real. He made me a lilac wood staff just like the mage characters in my Brides of Prophecy series, which is tantamount to a proposal. The fact that he listened and remembered that detail still blows my mind.
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