Chapter 9

My alarm goes off and I slap the darn thing. "Be quiet" I say to it. "I just need five more minutes" and roll over away from it and try to get five more minutes of sleep.

The alarm goes off again and this time I get up, turning the thing off and start my day. Me to the bathroom, dog outside and start the coffee. Need coffee. Must have coffee.

While Caesar is outside, I start making my breakfast and one hot drop of oil reminds me that I am not clothed; naked as a jay bird; Au' Natural. I move the pan off of the burner and grab an apron and finish my scrambled eggs and bacon without fear of burning my tenders.

I pick up my phone while eating and dial Brandon, the preacher who led the service of my family. "Brandon, this is Paul Johnson."

"Paul, glad to hear from you. How are you today?"

"I'm fine, still recovering, but fine. I had a good talk with a coworker yesterday and she got me thinking about making some changes in my life which leads me to you."

"Good. Glad to hear it. How can I help?"

"I need some volunteers to help clean out my house. I also need somewhere to donate all of my stuff. Do you know of a charity that would accept lots of women's clothes and lots of kids clothes let alone all of the toys that my kids had. I just need somewhere to send them and I am not strong enough to do it myself."

"Paul, I am impressed."

"By what?"

"I am impressed by the fact that you want to move forward. I have counseled many people who lose loved ones like you have and they withdraw into a hole that eventually leads to their death. You on the other hand seem to be moving forward and starting over and that impresses me. I don't know your family and didn't know them or you before this all happened, but this request is something that I will help you with. Let me make a few phone calls and I am sure that I can round up some souls to help you out. When do you need us?"

"If we could do it on Friday and Saturday, that would be best for me."

I hear him mumbling to himself, Friday and Saturday, "What is your address? And what time should we arrive?"

I think for a moment, "How about 9am. I'll provide the food for lunch and dinner those days. The only thing I don't have is boxes. This won't work without those."

He thinks for a moment, "Yes that will be a problem. I'll add it to the list of things for this project. At least I have a few days to plan."

"Thank you Brandon. It means a lot to me that you would be willing to help me with this."

"It is the right thing to do for you and we will be honored to help. I'll see you on Saturday."

We hang up from each other and I finish my breakfast then retire to my bedroom to get dressed for the day.

My week continues like this, get up in the morning, go to work and while at work, I continue to befriend Ashlee with lunches in the break room and she continues to expand my lifestyle from husband/dad to single white male looking for friends and love. An amazing journey.

Anyway, when Friday arrives, I stay home getting ready for the day and getting ready for the church members to arrive to help get my life and my house cleaned out. While I am putting clothes on, I hear a rumble outside. I look through the window in my bedroom and see a large truck delivering the portable dumpster I had ordered. I think I am going to have a bunch of trash and a dumpster is very necessary.

The driver comes to the door, and asks for a signature. I sign his document and he drives away.

I go back in, pour a bowl of cereal and start eating it and more rumbling in my drive. I look out the window in my front door and see another delivery truck; this one is delivering a portable container, one of those pack rat containers for all of the items that I am going to donate to charity.

Once the container is delivered, I sign the receipt and the man drives away. Almost immediately, more cars and people start to arrive and very quickly, my front room is full of people and Pastor Brandon brings up the rear. "Good morning Paul" Brandon begins with great enthusiasm and we exchange hugs and he begins to introduce the ladies and gentlemen standing around looking excited to be helping and a bit sad about my loss.

"Thank you all for coming. It really means more than I can tell you to have you all here during this time in my life. The church has always been a pillar of strength in my life and this is just another example of that. Thank you all for being here."

There is a general agreement among the people and I start giving out instructions. "Ok, here is the plan. All of the kid's clothes and women clothes are going to be packed up for donating. I don't want anything to go to waste and I am sure that there are other people out there who can use everything that I am going to give them. I have three bedrooms that need to be cleaned out. The first one on the left down the hall is the playroom. All of the books and toys need to be packed away for donation. The ladies clothes in the closet donate the chest of drawers, toss."

I continue to go over the playroom, the boy's room listing out all of the things that need to be packed and what needs to be thrown away. "So, who brought the boxes?" I finally ask to no one in particular.

The crowd gives a polite chuckle and the chaos begins. I step out of the way and allow the work to begin. I wonder around watching, keeping quiet and the volunteers begin to box things up and take them outside. The kids' books, toys knick-knacks and such. All boxed up and ready for someone else to use. I head for my bathroom, and sit on the toilet. Tears start to flow and I am overcome. I just sit and cry. I can't stop. I just sit in my bathroom crying about stuff. Stuff that had once been loved and used by children that no longer need them or use them. Stuff.

I wipe my face off, and then splash some water on my face to wash away the evidence and then exit the bathroom. There in front of me I find three ladies in my closet pulling out clothes and putting them on the bed. "Oh, sorry. We weren't sure if this room was on the list or not."