I love this photo.

I took it yesterday after I loaded the pitching machine softballs into the soapy water to clean them. It looked so happy and it made me smile.

You see, on July 30 our new business, Athletic Mission Performance Center, burned. And there hasn’t been a lot to smile about since then. Geoff had just finished training Nikki and me. We were all talking about our plans for the rest of the day. Nikki went back to the ladies room and that’s when she discovered the fire.

It was scary but I think we handled it well. Nikki called 911 and Geoff and I moved quickly to get the HitTrax unhooked and moved to the farthest office in the building, away from the fire. I figured that we could save them if they didn’t get water damage when the fire department tried to put out the fire.

After we had the expensive equipment moved we got out of the building. I saw two guys running towards us. I’m not even sure where they came from. They were pointing to the corner of the building. I don’t think they knew we knew it was on fire. I said we were just moving equipment and getting out. They said, “What can we move?”

10 fire trucks came. It was pouring down rain. Our neighbors to the north told us we could hang out under their overhang. He continued to offer us anything we needed: a chair, water, the bathroom. I wanted to watch from outside, though. When he came out and asked if we wanted to see the fire from the back of the building, we took him up on it. We wove our way through their building and out their back door.

Holy smokes! I think I could’ve gone my whole life without seeing that.

After the fire was put out we went back into the building. Although the fire damage itself was confined to the bathroom area where the vent fan had caught on fire, the fire was fueled by oil soaked insulation producing the thick black smoke that left tons of soot all over everything.

The restoration company, Blackmon Mooring, was there to help us pick up the pieces. They are amazing. They are kind, compassionate, understanding and smart. They told us that the soot would eat into metal if it wasn’t taken care of immediately.

And things sat there. We waited on the landlord, the insurance adjusters, and inspectors.

Our insurance company finally gave us the go ahead to move our things and we got to it yesterday. We needed to get all of the soot off of our things that we would be moving to the new location and so, balls in bubbles.

When I was paying rugby in Bahrain, they weren’t able to grow a grass pitch for us to play on so they made it out of sand. But, to keep the sand from blowing away, they mixed it up with oil. After every practice and game, we were covered with oil. They told me I would need to shower with dish soap to get it off. Dish soap? But it worked!

That’s why I chose to use Palmolive dish soap to clean our belongings in the Center. Not only does it cut the grease and clean surfaces easily, it’s not toxic or harsh. It was a perfect choice. As I showered last night, I wished I had brought some up to the bathroom because soap just doesn’t work as well. 🙂

We made a lot of progress yesterday. It’s sad to be taking the baseball cages down when we’ve only just put them up. 

David wins the “Dirtiest of All” award.

Today, our goal is to get the turf off the floor. It’s going to be another hot and dirty day but I love how our family works together. We help each other out, joke to lighten the mood and we’ve grown closer through this. 

We may be down but we are definitely not out. We will be back soon and better than before. I am so thankful to Blackmon Mooring (especially Kelsey, Trent, and Armando) for their help and guidance, our neighbors who rushed to help us the day of the fire, our clients for hanging in there with us while we get back up and running, and David, Geoff and Nikki for being pretty much the most awesome people in the world. 🙂