Trying to move and overcome new obstacles
Trying to move and overcome new obstacles by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor
After getting through another rough spell recently, Kellie Wang and her parents have been trying to get their lives back on track. A couple weeks ago Kellie and her mother Sally Warwick had a stack of ?thank you? cards ready to be mailed out, but Paul Warwick became seriously ill with double pneumonia and spent eight days in the hospital. And if the family hadn?t had enough to deal with, on the same day, Kellie?s pet Chihuahua, which she picked up on her trip to Florida, had to be taken to the vet and almost didn?t make it.
?We?re weary,? said Sally. ?Some days just getting up and getting around are about all we can do, because our minds are constantly on the loss.? A house fire February 12 took the lives of Kellie?s husband Kirt and their four children Steven, Sarah, NaLeaha and Emily. Paul was discharged from Cheboygan Memorial Hospital, but with the aid of oxygen. He was getting visits from VitalCare and could go stretches of a half hour without the aid of oxygen. He was scheduled for a doctor?s visit today in Rogers City. Kellie?s new dog ?Sophie? is eating well and healthy again, and was even nipping at a cat twice her size.
ANOTHER BIG step has been the move into a home at the intersection of South Fifth Street and West Orchard, a quick stroll to where Kellie will be putting her new house, once the burned structure is torn down in the next few weeks. ?I cannot have them tear down the house until next weekend, because I have a man coming up next Saturday,? said Wang. ?He has some type of special metal detector. He is going to look for my wedding ring. We are going to give it one more shot.?
It was left on a shelf in the living where the fire burned the hottest. Following the wishes of their daughter, Paul and Sally have decided to move from their home of 30 years into a house once owned by Foxy Dullack. It has a wrap around porch that faces the morning sunrises. Sally remembers her daughter saying, ?Why don?t you get that house across the street, then I can stay nights and walk over to my own house in the daytime.? Kellie added, ?to be honest, Sarah said, when she got older she wanted to buy this house, if it was still for sale, and own 22 St. Bernard?s.? Sally said, ?That?s how it started out. That was the reason, to be close to Kellie, so whenever she felt she needed the family support, she just has to walk across the street.? The new home on the hill was a buzz of activity Monday with Paul raking the lawn, new furniture being delivered, satellite service being hooked up and cards getting filled out in the dining room.
ABOUT 1,000 cards we
Sally and Kellie had a stack of cards on the dining room table, with more to be picked up at the local banks, and another bag still at the Warwick?s old house. Hand cramps or not, both seem determined to complete the task. Kellie is still uncertain about what her future plans are going to be.
?I don?t know,? she said. ?I really don?t know. I?m not totally sure. I haven?t thought that far ahead. Honestly, I?m probably not going to do that much this summer. That?s pretty much what I do now is sit here, and then when someone comes over and I go ?yea,? clapping her hands together, ?company!?