Overwhelming gratitude – Since this happened, we are just so grateful for everyone in our lives. Whether it’s a simple reach out, a generous gift, a logistical weight off our shoulders, or anything else, we’ve simply never felt this loved and cared for in our lives.
My “joke” has been: If you thought you felt loved on your wedding day, with all your friends and family there to celebrate you…go burn your house down. Then you’ll REALLY feel loved. 💖
And today, somehow, this feeling has grown even more. We’ll never be able to mention everyone who’s helped us through this – because it’s all of you. But we just have to share back some of the love we’re receiving…
Nick’s parents hosted us for 5 nights in their relatively small ranch home. Obviously with no notice and no chance to plan for it. Debbie is in an ankle cast after surgery and is using crutches and a wheelchair to get around. They played with the kids, cooked us every single meal, cleaned up our huge messes, provided an ear to listen, and a shoulder to cry on. We knew when they moved here in February they were going to be an important part of our support system in Colorado, but we had no idea the extent to which they would support us in such a short time.
Our friend Lauren has been through every second of this with us. Most of the “what happened that night” that we’re pulling together is from Kate’s text messages with Lauren. Lauren jumped into action and is coordinating so much more than we even know. She’s watched the kids, fielded questions from friends wanting to help, shopped for essentials, collected gifts and funds, and is still doing things for us as we figure out where we land next.
Our friend Sam is hosting us for a week in her beautiful home, and has offered for us to stay as long as we need. She stocked the fridge with food, bought supplies for us (yay, now I have clean socks!!!), got us VIP access to a local running store who wants to gear us up, and has even offered to provide us with a vacation when this is all over (she moonlights as a travel agent on top of her impressive space tech career). What a gem of a human.
Our house helper and friend Claire has collected gifts from her community, put together a huge list of housing options, cleaned Tom and Debbie’s house after we covered it in cheerios, and drove all our new belongings up to Sam’s house in Longmont. We’re so grateful that we somehow lucked upon this amazing woman this summer when we needed some help around the house as we both went back to work full-time after parental leave.
The kids’ school has been amazing at supporting us as well. One of the owners has called us every day to check-in, they’ve set up a GoFundMe for all 8 families impacted, are hosting a donation center, and are waiving tuition for 4 weeks as we get our feet under us again. We knew we had a great childcare setup, but we didn’t know until now how meaningful this community would be for us during this time.
Our friends and family are doing so much for us across the board. Our close friends Eric and Amy brought us food and new supplies right after it happened, and are organizing some food delivery for us over the next few weeks. Our friend Ali is helping organize all of our receipts and purchases to share with the insurance company. Logan, a close family friend, is ordering us a full set of new outerwear from The North Face where she works. Talia, our family photographer, shared our story with her network and gave us a generous gift. Friends from DC, California, triathlons, marching band, childhood, work, and everywhere in between have sent love, gifts, and magic. Family from around the country have sent essentials, comfort, and are rebuilding our mementos. We seriously couldn’t ask for more.
Her teachers reported that foxy was a huge comfort. He *almost* got taken to bed instead of big bunny, but she switched last minute and gave foxy the bed next to her and snuggled the OG Big Bunny as usual. ❤️
And now, back to today:
Catching up with other families – While Nick was driving the kids to school, Kate went and had coffee with our neighbor Leigh from across the street. They drank pour-over coffee (since that’s all the shop has, given the boil water warning for all of Louisville) and caught up about the last 5 days. We cried a little, laughed a little, and hugged a lot. Sitting with someone who knows what we’re going through was healing and powerful. We’re looking forward to getting the full families together soon — Avery will be so excited to hang with Leigh’s daughter Mia who babysits for us and is a magical toddler whisperer.
Kate also chatted on the phone with our close friends Lindsey and Jeff who lost their place in another part of Louisville. This is the family we met at swim class in the spring. Like all of us, they’re hanging on, and it was so nice to chat for a while and stay posted on how they’re navigating this.
Kids had a great day – All teachers reported that the kids did great, and we’re so glad to have them back to their routine. Avery got huge hugs from her BFF, and we’re hoping to set up some playdates for the two of them over the next few weeks to help fill Avery’s cup with love even more.
Made it to Longmont – At around 4pm, we left Tom and Debbie’s tearful but ready to give them some space for a few days and stay somewhere new for a few nights. We picked up the kids, and then drove about 40 minutes up to Longmont, where Sam lives. We had yummy Chinese food, chatted, and got organized.
Housing for Jan 10 – Feb 6 – We spoke with a potential host landlord for our Jan 10 – Feb 6 window (since we’re assuming the place we’ve found long term after Feb 6 will work for us) en route to Sam’s. The landlord is not excited about cats, and has lots of other interest. And a lot to think about. We’re going to touch base tomorrow to see if she’s willing to have us or not. If not, we’ve contacted 3 other options that may or may not work out. We’re hoping we can find something closer to the kids’ school and Granny and Gramps for the 4 week window. Driving back and forth to Longmont every day is going to get old fast (especially with 4+ inches of snow expected tomorrow).
We promise to drive safe — can’t handle any more surprises or drama right now.
kleinschmidtcolorado.com 
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