The ugly truth is I usually push myself so hard during the week working every waking hour I have, that when the weekend comes I completely crash. Yesterday was no exception. We had been at church for over 5 hours. Much of which involved chasing my kids around wearing a dry clean only dress and high heel shoes. And as soon as we got home my husband left again. I felt like my body and my mind were nearing death. I was in my pajamas, (in the middle of the afternoon), sprawled out on the couch, flipping through the bonus features of Monster’s Inc trying to keep my children entertained when a loud banging was heard at my door.
My first thought was, Who has the NERVE to bang on my door like that. And then I remembered, Oh no, my door isn’t locked! Just as I got up off the couch to lock the door from whoever was thinking about intruding, the door OPENED. I was frozen for a few seconds until I recognized the police uniform. There’s a fire in your building, he said in alarm, Get OUT NOW! I was in my pajamas, and Zack didn’t even have a shirt on (from the Tomato Basil Soup we had for dinner). You have time to get a shirt and shoes for your kids. But get out now. There is a meeting place outside.
I yelled at Mackay to get out, but she ran out the door and then directly back in to be by my side. I grabbed a shirt for Zack and fumbled trying to find two shoes that matched. ANY two shoes. As soon as I found some I handed it all to Mackay, picked up Zack, and we ran out of the house. My mind raced as I thought about what in my house I would want to keep in case our entire apartment became engulfed in flames. I ran back in and grabbed my camera as quickly as I could, hoping the police officer didn’t see, for fear he would yell at me. The tv and many lights in the house still on. Outside I saw where a group of people had gathered together, so we walked in that general direction. I sat my kids on the grass and put Zack’s shirt on, told Mackay to put on her shoes, and attempted to tie Zack’s shoe laces, to no avail. I was stunned at the lack of neighborhood we had. Everyone was standing around, but no one talking. Me being the only one with children, I thought maybe someone would come to see if they could help, to see if we were okay. People hardly looked in our direction. Of course Nate wasn’t home. Four fire trucks pulled up all around us, so I picked up my kids and decided to walk to our neighbor’s house. I didn’t want to sit there all alone, and I didn’t feel that my kids needed to watch. That’s when I realized I had no shoes on. Great.
As we were walking briskly to our friend’s, Mackay never stopped talking. She told me about that one time when she was at the doctor’s office and the firemen came in and made them all get out because there was a fire and she almost died. Of course none of this ever happened. But I just agreed with whatever she said, my mind somewhere else completely. I felt the tears welling up. Partly because I was walking around in my pajamas without shoes on. I felt so helpless. I kept it all together as I knocked on their door. But as soon as they answered the tears came in abundance. We’re okay, we’re okay. I kept saying. And I brought my camera. How silly, out of everything in our home, that was the only thing I could think of grabbing that was of importance.
As I was trying to calm down, the kids already at home playing with toys, I had my friend’s husband call Nate. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it together through the phone call, and didn’t want him to be more alarmed than he needed to be. He arrived in minutes.
We found out the fire in our building was the absolute furthest possible apartment from ours. What a blessing. And the fire was contained. An even greater blessing. We were eventually let back into our home, we picked up our kids from our friend’s, I gave her shoes back, and we were welcomed into an apartment that looked just like it had before. With the lights and tv on. But the smell was terrible.
My house still stinks, but I’m grateful for family, friends, and all of my stuff.
+ - 4 comments
Linda - Wow. Something I hope I never have to go through, but I’m sure there were important lessons learned — no lounge clothes until 8:00 pm; that pile of shoes by the door is OK.
Stephanie - I’m so glad you’re all ok and that all your stuff didn’t go up in flames! It would be so hard to start over.
Kalli - Nate was actually bummed that he didn’t get to go on a shopping spree with our insurance’s money to replace all our stuff. I, on the other hand, was relieved.
Meagan Tuck - so glad you guys are ok! that must have been a horrible and terrifying experience. I had one that came close to that when Brian ran over the gas main for a manufactured home we were renting. I called 9-1-1 and they immediately said get out of the house. We went to my neighbor’s and the whole time I wondered why I didn’t grab anything in case our home exploded. But the gas company was able to come out and shut it off before any damage was done.