The Unexpected: Shaking Buildings, Random Evacuations, and Fortunate Outcomes

On April 10th, I woke up to the smell of burnt plastic, a few shouts from men, and then silence. I didn't think much of it 1'cause... that's some regula degula shit where I live, you know?

I got out of bed, went through my usual morning ritual of meditation, journaling, and slaying my dragon breath, and then went out into the living room to say good morning to my partner who had already been up for a while.

About an hour later, we decided to go grocery shopping. Just as we were about to head out, I received a phone call from our gas company. They informed me that they would shut off the service due to an emergency demolition of a nearby building...

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Let me go back a bit... Since January, our building had been shaking due to the construction of a nearby building (literally two buildings away from us). I had never experienced such intense rumbling and shaking as I did with that damn construction company. There were days when I had to leave home and work at a nearby coffee shop or just have a drink somewhere else because I was genuinely concerned that our building might collapse. It was an uncomfortable situation, to say the least.

So anyway, Reign and I had a feeling that the nearby building was the one that needed to be demolished. We made sure to walk around the corner before going to the grocery store. With a recycle bag in tow, sure enough... there were representatives from L&I, contractors, lawyers, neighbors, and random onlookers watching the building. It looked as though a baby giant had punted the side of the building during playtime. We joined the onlookers and caught up with our upstairs neighbor.

The three of us eventually spoke with L&I representatives and the people on-site. They were surprised to see us still in the building because they claimed they had someone knock on the doors and urge us to evacuate...

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Thankful that we decided to go grocery shopping, I guess. After speaking with L&I, we were told that we couldn't return until late afternoon, but we knew it would take longer. We said our goodbyes to our upstairs neighbor, went back upstairs to grab our most important belongings, picked up little Aubry, and headed over to our storage facility. We dropped off our valuables, reached out to our loved ones, and found a bench at Whole Foods Market to reflect on our next move. Aubry, our cat, was anxious in her carrier, but she was a trooper.

The entire situation threw me off course, and I felt completely out of the loop. Writing assignments, blog posts, and interviews that I had lined up all had to be pushed back, and I hated it. It was also fucking National Poetry Month, for God's sake. Nevertheless, I was thankful that Reign, Aubry, and I were safe. I was grateful to have Reign by my side, my best friend, and an awesome spouse who helped me stay sane throughout this ordeal. As we sat on the bench, we found a pet-friendly hotel, decided where to eat, and planned our next moves.

After grabbing some grub and ensuring Aubry had water (she refused to eat, poor thing), we headed back to the apartment to check if we could return... and, yep, we couldn't until the next day. We spoke with the Red Cross, and they opened a case for us. Thankfully, a neighbor from our block kindly offered to drive us to a hotel near the airport.

This experience made me realize how fortunate I am to have a support team consisting of my family, and in-laws. It highlighted the importance of choosing a solid spouse. Our little comfort zone is threatened, potentially not being able to return to the place we called home for five years, was hefty. Yet, we were still about to giggle, find comfort, be thankful, smile and work together to face this thing. We were able to return, yes. However, after speaking with a few solid folks...living there isn’t safe in the long run.

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I'm grateful for the unexpected shake-up in my life because it led me to a bigger apartment that I genuinely enjoy being in now. It also served as a reminder of how easily people can slip through the cracks during unfortunate events. I'm glad that our building didn't collapse... but if it did, my spouse, my cat, and I would have gone down with it because L&I definitely did not ring our bell, call, or inform us. If it wasn't for PGW's call and our decision to go out for groceries, we would have never known. It took me three months to finally process everything. I had to play catch up, but I think I'm good now.

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