Going to bed last night was a bit nerve wrecking but waking
up this morning felt extra special.
You see yesterday started out as any other day. Me feeling
possibility abound. Dropping the children off at school. At work going through
the day with my Assistant. When my phone rang. My personal phone which I
happened to have in my hand. Something I hardly ever do. And it was my husband calling
me to tell me our house was on fire but everything was under control.
I had to hold the telephone away from my ear as everything
in my office started spinning. My hands shaking. Did my husband just tell me our house was on
fire? Fire. I could not comprehend what
he was telling me. Surely not us. How could our house be on fire I thought? He
told me he was at the house and everything w as contained so I didn’t have to
panic nor did I need to come home. But my instincts were telling me to go home.
To see what was happening.
So I told my Assistant I had to go. Rushed out of the office.
As I was driving home I could smell burning in the air from at least a couple
of miles away. My heart pounding then. My body in a cold sweat. All I could
think about was little Mysty being dead. Suffocated from the smoke and how
would I ever be able to tell my daughter her rabbit had been killed in a fire.
I pushed the pedal to the floor and drove as quickly as I could. Trying to get
home as fast as I could.
As I got to the main road to my house, the road was blocked
by a police car. Panic set in even more. Why was the road blocked off by a police
car if everything was under control? The smell of the burning even greater. My
nerves on edge. I told the policeman it was my house on fire could I please get
in. He moved forward and I turned into our road only to find two huge fire
trucks blocking the road. The smell of burning that much more acrid. Taking my
breath away. I felt like I was in a dream. Like I was having an out of body
experience.
I left the car in the middle of the road and ran to my
house. In 4 in heels no less. Got to the yard and there were firemen everywhere.
A police woman talking to my husband. And thick black smoke billowing out of
what looked like everywhere. Not a scene I was expecting to see at all. So I
broke down as I got near the steps. My whole body giving in to the unexpected
scene I came home to. I started shaking and crying. The police woman holding
me. My husband hugging me when she moved away.
I said I had to get Mysty out. Thick smoke was billowing
toward her cage. I feared I would find a suffocated little rabbit. The fireman
came with me to her house. I called and called her name but she did not come.
Panic really setting in then. I climbed into her house and found her crouched
in the corner. Shaking but fine. She wouldn’t move when I called. Didn’t move
when I walked closer to her. She was so terrified she was glued to the spot. I pulled
her out and held her close to me. So relieved to find her okay. I took her into
the house and sat with her a while to calm her little racing heart. Happy she was okay.
I went back out to survey the damage. Relieved the flames were
out. Smoke clearing. Our shed that held all of my grateful journal for the last
20 years, Christmas decorations I had had for 20 years, Christmas decorations the
children had made in school, photos, the children’s bikes, my husband’s segway
and more personal belongings all gone in that instant. History that had been
kept as mementos now stripped away. As if the Universe was telling me that part
of my past was over in a physical sense, it was time to move on. I was
heartbroken that my past had been stripped from me. Heartbroken that my
children’s Christmas decorations they had ever made were gone.
But then once I talked to the firemen and they told us had it
been five minutes more we would have lost our house, losing those possessions
became minor. They got there just in time to catch the fire as it was spreading
to the eaves of our home. Had the flames hit the eaves, the fire would have gone
to the roof and they would have had to take off the roof. Our home done.
I later discovered that my neighbor was late going to work
and it was she who had raised the alarm. Had she been early our home could have
been gone. There were so many intervening angels who helped to save our home
and our rabbit that I cannot say our grateful I am.
I picked the children up from school so they would not come home
to see the burnt out trees, the shed that no longer existed, and the
devastation of fire. My son’s bike he had saved up for gone. When I told them, my
son said all day long at school he felt like something was wrong. My daughter panicking
about Mysty.
When we got home to see the charred trees, the ashes of what
remained of our shed, the burst window where the flames were so close to claiming
our home, we were all so grateful for being spared. So grateful for the higher
power who sent the fire while we were all out of the house and during the day
when it could be discovered rather than at night when we were all sleeping and
could have been taken.
As my husband went through the rubble left, he pulled out my
Christmas angel burnt but still intact, sitting as if she had been guarding us
during the fire. But when he held her up for me to see, she crumbled in his hand as if to say my job
is done. As if she was letting us know she had protected us for as long as she
could but now her job was done and she was no longer necessary. Sending chills
down my spine.
Yes we lost memories that can never be replaced. My son lost
his first major purchase. But what we did not lose was each other. Nor did we
lose our home. So we are all still shaken by how close we came to a catastrophe
but at the same time we are feeling truly blessed and grateful that we are all
still here as is our home.
And I am also grateful to know I was shown first hand
yesterday how quickly life can change. How each moment we have on this Earth in
our present state is a blessing and should not be taken for granted. Because
just like how I started the day yesterday thinking all was well. Within an hour
I had almost lost it all. But I was spared and so was my family and our home.
Now we know we have more work to do here in this physical plane. We were spared
for a reason. And it’s time to really start living in the here and now.
And for the blessing of the fire for teaching me to focus on
the here and now, I am truly grateful.
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