Fire Drill

Things That Went Right Today:

1) Up early to greet the day
2) Air conditioner broken...grateful for the rain that cooled down the house
3) New garbage disposal goes in this morning.

We woke up yesterday morning to the blaring sound of our smoke alarms going off all over the house. We saw no flames and smelled no smoke, but when I was unable to figure out the cause I ushered the kids outside and called the fire department and told them what was going on. They sent out a crew who checked things out and finally determined that there was a weird short in this old alarm system that we had never activated in the ten years we had lived here.   We didn't even think it worked, but it seems that when one unit goes awry it sets off the alarms in the whole system. Anyway, I felt kind of embarrassed to have had the fire fighters come out when there wasn't even a real fire, but they were very kind and assured me I had done the right thing by calling. My little boys thought it was very exciting to see the trucks pull into the cul-de-sac, and this time it turned out to be only a fire drill thankfully. But it was definitely a wake up call. We are spending some time this week revamping our family fire safety plan and installing some new alarms.  I would encourage each of you to do the same.

But the most important thing I was reminded of yesterday was that people are all that counts. Stuff doesn't matter a bit. After I made sure all of the kids and pets were safely outside, I went back into the house to grab anything else I was worried about losing, just in case. It was funny...I wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes before realizing that there really wasn't a single thing inside worth going to heroic efforts for. That everything that I truly cared about was already standing outside. We have nice furniture, knick knacks, etc that we like a lot. But if we lost it all I realized it would be inconvenient, but not earth shattering. It's just things. All replaceable. Of monetary value only. So I walked out of the house with only my purse, knowing that no matter what happened I could be at peace. I am thankful today for the service of the local fire department to my family and to the community each and every day. I am thankful that this turned out to be nothing more than a minor problem this time. And I'm thankful for the reminder that even if all of my earthly possessions disappeared in a sudden tragedy, that all would still be right with the world if my family was by my side.