On this night, the eve of my 50th birthday, I am
truly grateful for my many blessings. As
I ponder the events of the weekend, I am reminded of how easily and quickly
everything can change.
I need to provide an update on God’s intervention over the
entire weekend.
Saturday morning, both my daughters were away.
They spent the night at friend’s houses.
Christopher was in Pittsburg, awaiting the BIG GAME (which turned out to
be a disaster – not that he noticed or cared).
Our office has been working Saturdays for a few months, but due to my
pending travel scheduled for today (and the closure of the HRBT) the decision
was made for none of us to work. Otherwise,
I wouldn’t have been home either (which would have been devastating! I can’t imagine how far the fire would have
traveled in our neighborhood if 911 wasn’t called when they were; not to
mention that Mandy would have been in the house too).
I awoke somewhat early – but had no intention of getting out
of bed. I was planning to enjoy several
moments or hours of peace (and allow myself the opportunity to play with my new
ipad – birthday gift from my husband). Our
bedroom is located directly above the room where the fire started.
All of a sudden, I heard our Bassett Hound, Roxie, howling
in the back yard. She is normally very
quiet, so I was extremely worried. I
jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to check on her. I opened the back door and was surprised to
see an uninvited visitor; a raccoon. I’m
not sure if Roxie was scared of it or wanted to play with it – but I was
worried she would get hurt. I ran to the
porch and called Roxie to come inside, then made the decision to start a load
of wash. Realizing the day was going to
begin, whether I liked it or not, I planned to take Mandy on her routine
morning walk. I proceeded outside in my
pajamas (as I do almost every single day) and was greeted by the most amazing,
beautiful breeze. I walked to the end of
the street and returned to take my Zo Zos on her walk. As I opened the front door, I saw smoke in
the kitchen. I walked in and looked down
to my husband’s “man cave,” where I saw an orange glow. Working for the Navy, our fire safety video
prepared me to GET OUT FAST! I knew I
had no time to do anything, but stood at the bottom of the stairs knowing Zoe
was in the upstairs bedroom. I left her
upstairs and ran next door to ask the neighbor to call 911 (one of the hardest
things I’ve ever done in my entire life!).
I remembered Roxie was on the porch, so I ran around back, pulled her
off the couch, and put her in the back yard.
Honestly, I thought the firemen would be there quickly,
extinguish the fire, and rescue our Zoe.
That didn’t happen. Although they
were quick, they were not quick enough.
I stood on the street and due to the black smoke, couldn’t see my home
at all. I was totally amazed that our
Church family gathered with me, for HOURS, watching the 6 or 7 fire trucks, extending
love as well as needed assistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment