When I was a child and we would return home from vacation, I would shut my eyes really tight and take a deep breath as we rounded the corner on our street, to reveal our house. Every time we left and came back I had this fear of our house burning down while we were gone. It was an unfounded fear since nothing like that had ever happened at our house, but for some reason I was afraid it might occur while we were gone. I was always so relieved to discover it still standing and looking the same as when we left it, every time I opened my eyes.
My parents took such good care of our home, inside and out, and it is a place I have always treasured from the time I was a little girl. Growing up I had my own room at the end of the hall. When you are the youngest (by several years) and only girl, you typically get your own room. The sun would stream in every morning so brightly and I spent a lot of time in that room as a teenager. My room was my refuge.
In late January of this year my parents did have a fire. Thankfully they got out of the house and it was not as bad as it could have been. However, it was still pretty bad. Many of their things were ruined and the entire house had to be cleaned out for the restoration and rebuild.
The night this happened they were eating dinner and my mother saw flames from their dining table. A light shorted out in the greenhouse my dad built many years before. If the fire happened while they were sleeping, I hate to even think if they would have made it out or not. Their bedroom was one of the worst areas once the fire was extinguished. The damage to their lives and their loved ones lives could have been much more catastrophic.
Fast forward to us having some electrical work done last week while we are in isolation. (Yes, we had a worker in our home, but we took all precautions and one of the things he fixed was very necessary.) While he was here he enlightened us to the fact we did not have proper smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in our house. It didn’t take us very long to make the decision to equip our home with them.
We are home indefinitely. We are all here together, for the most part. We have carved out our spaces and ways to do school work and work-work. I have put out some spring and Easter decorations and we are even celebrating our faith within these walls, since we cannot attend church right now. This place has become our refuge from the world, more so than ever before. I can decorate it, make it comfortable and inviting for US but most of all, we must protect it and ourselves from any devastation.
I don’t think any of our kids are fearful of a fire like I was. At least I hope not. We have a plan, should it be necessary, and we now have MANY more smoke detectors than before. Home means a lot to me and inside these walls is everything that is important to me, mostly the humans I love and cherish. I am not sure how to round out this post other than to say, make sure your home has what is needed to protect your loved ones from a fire. It can easily happen and now that we are all spending more time at home, the chance of it happening is probably higher.
Stay safe, my friends. And enjoy your home sweet home.
