For those who were following the blog, back in Oct 2011, there was a freak fire in our NY 103rd St. apartment while we were all in Cincinnati (you can read about here) that left our apartment and everything in it smoked, sooted and mostly unusable. (The cause was something with the microwave.)

Because we thought Ayelet was coming home at the time, we made sure to gut the entire place, remove walls floors etc, to prevent any mold that could cause infection to her - so we basically rebuilt the whole place.

It was just completed this week.

Last night we moved in to the fully renovated apartment, with some apprehension, some excitement and a ton of Ayelet memories on our shoulders. Looking at the empty bedroom alone is reminder enough, but in a certain sense this is a reset to a new apartment and a somewhat new albeit altered life.

We want to publicly thank the Chabad of the West Side who as soon as they heard at shiva that we were back in NYC and did not have a place to live until our apartment was fixed, offered up an apartment to us to give us some place to go in the interim. That interim lasted 3 months. Thank you Chabad West Side for all.

We lived there temporarily but it felt like home. Our neighbors, the welcoming Alevskys, another Chabad family welcomed us with open arms and hearts and we were even able to hold the Shloshim service in that apartment and give us a time of transition from what was to what is.

We will never forget that place, or more specifically, we will never forget the mahogany, bay windows, and unheard of high ceilings.

As for our new pad, here are some pics of the before/after the fire to give you a sense of the unbelievable work of our contractor Joe in the new Chez Galena:

It’s hard to be back, and honestly the first two nights we didn’t sleep much, but Ayelet’s room we still call Ayelet’s room, and the empty room in our apartment, empty room in our hearts, empty room in our lives, will be always be a memory filled void.

Now it’s just time we try and reset our apartment, reset our lives, and fill them with as much life as we can.

Thank you Chabad of the West Side for hosting us for 3 months, Rav Ossey/Kugel/Fried, Shneur, Joe the contractor, Elysha/Drew for housing all our stuff, Rafi for putting our bed together. And all those who have helped us pick up the pieces.

Now, let’s bring on the guests.