Holy FUCK

Well, we just had a huge scare. I was sewing and Nick was fiddling around outside when he hollered in: CALL 911!!! I said, WHY? He said BECAUSE EMILY’S HOUSE IS ON FIRE!!

You want to put me into a screaming panic? Say those words to me. Having been through the horror of our friends’ house burning to the ground one fine Sunday a few years ago, any mention of fire makes me completely lose my shit.

For me, losing my shit means that I call 911 and scream at the dispatcher, call Emily’s phone, leave a message, get her brother’s phone # from my address book and call him. Fortunately, he was at a party with Emily, so he told her to get home quick. Then, I run towards the fire to see how bad it is. The fire was in the carport of our dear friend Emily’s house and it was billowing black smoke – which immediately makes me think ROOF. Nick ran over there and as it turned out, it was a plastic trellis and a plastic planter that was engulfed and causing the black smoke. Nick grabbed the trellis and pulled it onto the concrete while the neighbors started showing up. I remembered (how??) that Emily had a hose at her front porch so we got it and hosed down the blaze. Had we been 5 minutes later, the carport would have been involved.

OMFG. I thank the gods that we noticed what was happening. A couple of minutes later the fire trucks (2) arrived with 2 EMT units and they hosed everything down some more (we’d already gotten the fire out with the hose) as well as pulled down a bit of the carport ceiling to make sure the fire had not spread to the attic. A few minutes after that Mike’s mom arrived – they live a couple of streets over – and everyone else arrived.

I tell you, we live in the ghetto, but our neighbors hauled ass up here to help and I can’t say enough how awesome that is.

The whole thing was over in half an hour and everyone went back to the birthday party they’d been at and we came back across the street. Then I burst into tears and cried for a few minutes. That smell brought back some intensely bad feelings from years ago. I’m grateful that my Get Things Done instinct is stronger than my Burst Into Tears instinct.

We’ve had our excitement for the year, folks. I’m still a bit shaky after two shots of Turkey 101.

Let’s all take a moment and be grateful for all that we have and everyone check your alarm systems today, ok? If you don’t have fire detection, please get it. Also, make it a point to get to know your neighbors. Even in a semi-sketchy neighborhood like mine, having neighbors who know you makes ALL the difference.

We love you all and don’t want anything to happen to any of you. ::big hugs::