Today was not the Sunday I planned. I worked this morning and had a good feeling about all I’d accomplished. After lunch Mike and I headed to the dreaded WalMart for last minute items for our upcoming trip with our two oldest grandchildren. My niece called with the frightening news of a fire very near our home. We discussed the importance of remaining calm but we were more than ten miles away and could see what appeared to be a huge mushroom cloud of fire.
My daughter and son-in-law were at our house when we arrived, our 5 and 9 year old grandchildren with them. In just a few minutes our other son-in-law arrived to offer his assistance. I was rattled and worried but said a silent prayer for wonderful children. The men began accessing the threat outside, attaching trailers to trucks, using the tractor and four wheeler and even made plans to spray the water from the swimming pool if necessary. My daughter and I, with our two young ones, tried to decide what we should save. We started to gather photos, jewelry, important documents, computers, ipads, and oh my, there is SO MUCH. The kids are great helpers, I notice they have added to our bag of “savings”. They saved our Sorry game, large cardboard box and all and another favorite, Farkle, surely wise choices. I was still rattled and worried but they made me smile.
As the day continued our other daughter came to take the cousins to her home, miles from the fire. She eventually had the care of all four of my grandchildren but was up to the task. She even used this time to begin movie making, four great actors at the ready.
Hours passed with everyone still on high alert, our telephone rang many times with friends and family checking in but to our great relief the fire spared our land and home. We will be forever grateful to courageous firemen, both volunteer and professional. They worked so hard and risked so much for people they did not know. I know words aren’t enough but I must say them, “ thank you, firefighters, for your service, I am both humbled and honored by all you do.”
Days like this one help us all to keep perspective in our lives. Nothing is more important than human life, “things” are just things, friends and family should never be taken for granted. Maybe my most important lesson was to try to live and experience each day, moment by moment, that’s all any of us really have, but it is more than enough.
Family 
Judy,
Hope life is back to normal for you and Mike. But Isn’t it interesting, how extraordinary days — like the one you’ve memorialized in this post — help make us appreciate the ‘normal’ everyday where we mostly live out our lives. Glad you didn’t lose your house of almost forty years. Make that your recently re-done and expanded house of almost forty years.
Looking forward to celebrating your birthday lunch. Even three-months late!
Janell