Repairs

This is me and my mom, Michelle.

  

She grew up in Ohio. Her parents are from Poland and Czechoslovakia. She was a convert to the church in her  20's, married my dad and had 4 (super awesome) kids!  She is a fantastic mother. 

She would teach me how to cook alongside her as she made dinners.

She gave me popsicles and 7-up when I was sick. 

She bought me a mini palm tree (my favorite thing ever) when I won a high school election as a congratulations gift. 

She didn't just sit on the porch and watch me rollerblade, she got rollerblades her size and rollerbladed with me. 

She told me everyday before I went to school "You look pretty today!". It was always those exact words too.

She took me shopping and let me pick out hair bows. 

Once while waiting in line at the car wash we saw the lady in front of us open the back of her van and she had like 3 costco size containers of blueberries. My mom and I spent the rest of the time making fun of her cause who on earth likes blueberries!? And who could eat that many? We felt bad for her children that were going to have to eat hundreds of blueberries. 

Once I came out of my room and my mom was on the couch eating hot fudge with a spoon out of the jar. I asked why she was eating hot fudge for breakfast, to which she responded, "Well it's too early for ice cream!". 

She has a sense of humor, she loves kids, and has cared for many children besides her own. I love my mom and there are lots of things about her that I want to be like. For instance, she doesn't see the boundaries between people. She'll talk to that crazy old man with the hat and the fanny pack in line in front of you at Walmart as much as she'll talk to the socially awkward teenager. She is kind to them no matter what they look like. 

She isn't perfect, and neither am I, and there is plenty that is different between us. She is no longer LDS, whereas that is the foundation of all my life and purpose. She is stubborn as anything and it's definitely frustrating. She deals with things differently and has been through different things than me. Despite how much she could frustrate the living daylights out of me, I love her very deeply and appreciate what she tried to do for me growing up- how she tried to raise me to be successful, kind, caring, and smart. 

Since March, my mom has been in the ICU at University Hospital in Salt Lake. She had burns over more than 60% of her body, and has had ups and downs of healing. Right now we're about at a standstill. She has just as much chance of not making it through as she does of making it and continuing her life. It's made me think a lot about both options, and what my life would be like with either. I still want my mom to be a part of my life, but it's not really up to me. Whether she makes it or not, I love her, and I can do some things to keep her in my heart.

When I was little my mom bought a beautiful china hutch. She was so excited about it. She put the china dishes she got from her mom at her wedding in it for display. She would change the decorations on it and in it over time, and it moved to different places around the house, but she always treasured it. I know that she loved that cabinet. She always told me too that it would be mine someday. She wanted to make sure it went to her only girl. Not that any of my brother's cared- a china hutch is kind of a girly thing anyway- but it was this cool thing between me and my mom that it was "our" cabinet- hers now, and mine to care for down the road.

In February of 2010 the house fire happened and almost everything in my childhood home got ruined by either flame or smoke. I can't even explain what it was like walking into the house the first time after that fire. That was one of the lowest moments of my life. Oh man, one of those moments you hope to never feel again. If you've ever dealt with a fire, then you know that smoke is a monster. It permeates and destroys everything. Our couches got trashed, the cabinets, the oven, like all major furniture and appliances. The house was repainted, repaired, and brought back to life thanks to my ward's and my dad's tireless efforts. When everything was getting cleaned out and thrown away, my dad mentioned to a good friend in our ward that the china hutch was special to my mom and me. It was smoky and water damaged, and smelled terrible. Instead of throwing it out that good man wanted to salvage it. He spent all his time at our house that day using this special cleaner to wipe off as much smoke as he could, knowing that it was for me. I am so thankful to him. I was living in student apartments then, so it went in the garage where I planned to take it with me when I was married and had room for it. My mom was elsewhere and would likely not have a place of her own again to keep it in, so it now became mine.

Next Thursday Steven and I are moving to Texas! We'll be living in a little bit bigger apartment than we have now, and will be there for the next few years. We probably won't ever live in Utah again, so it's now time to take the cabinet with us! We brought it to our apartment last week from my dad's garage, and I had forgotten what bad shape it was in. It still smelled so smoky, and was really damaged. So, since we are both temporarily retired and had the week open, the repairs began! 


This week we spent hours and hours stripping the stain, sanding, restaining, refinishing, and repairing. It was really  neat to work side by side with my husband who I love so much to repair and restore and make new a precious memory of my mom that got destroyed in a fire that broke much more than a house. It was a symbol to me of new beginnings, fresh starts, and healing from past burns. We'll keep that cabinet forever. My children will inherit it now, and hopefully it will mean as much to them. I love Steven for helping me do this! It's going to go in our kitchen in Texas always to remind me of my mom and the things I love about her, and a reminder of what we can accomplish when Steven and I work together! :) So cheesy, sorry, but isn't it great!?

Here's the before, after, and in-between!

This is AFTER we wiped it down and cleaned it off. That white stuff is all water and smoke damage.  The black on the back side of it was super smoky. When we bought it that was a light brown. And it's the porous kind of wood that soaks up everything-hence the cause of the smoke smell! We took the entire back boards off and got new ones.

All stripped and sanded! I never want to sand anything again. This took SO LONG!

 Steven sanded the top of the top piece, and you could smell all the smoke dust coming out. It was all black before this picture. 

 

 Staining the doors and drawers. We chose a darker stain just to make it different than it was before. Something new. :)

 We had to fix the drawer frames, so you can see the orange jenga game container holding it up in the back.

DONE!!! 

 We ordered new handles for the drawers, but they are going to Texas, so we'll put them on when we get down there.

 Here she is in all her repaired glory. Yay!