They Call Him Kipper

Kipper the Dog. My previous post about the sirens in the distance got me thinking about what it was like for us in those first days and weeks after the fire. My uncle and aunt were generous and offered the use of their house in Washington, NH. It was warm and dry and a place to re-coup, yet close enough for us to go to the house everyday and keep in contact with friends.
It was surreal. I want so badly to be able to describe it, but I can't find the words. We had nothing. Barely a pencil to our names. The house in Washington was a wonderful gift, as our alternative was living in a hotel room with a two year old and two dogs and a cat (it took us a week to find Samantha, poor thing). But the house was also weird. We felt so strange looking through cabinets trying to find silverware and knives. When we sat on the couch the squeaks were not familiar ones. We would put Rachel to sleep at night on a mattress on the floor in the bedroom and then go into the living room and just sit there and look at each other.
During the day we would prepare lists and go shopping for our immediate needs. I will never forget my first trip to Target, however, when I walked into the foyer and just stood there like an idiot by the carts because I literally needed everything and didn't even know in which direction to turn. So I turned around and left before I hyperventillated. Such irony that before the fire we stopped looking at sale flyers and such because they never held anything we needed and that day we needed it all.
And then there was Kipper. Rachel had been into the Wiggles, and Kipper and Spot....but the only videos we were able to salvage were two Kipper ones. We watched them over and over in those first few days. I can't hear the theme song without flashing back to Rachel kneeling over a green footstool while Chad and I tried to rebuild our lives. They call him Kipper...that cute, gentle dog.......makes me feel like I had the breath knocked out of me every time I hear the song. I have never introduced Ben nor Rebecca to Kipper......and now you know why.