Memories: Good and Bad

I was awakened in the middle of the night by one of my children shouting, what I thought, "SPIDER!!".  Knowing that my 2nd oldest daughter was suffering night terrors my first thought was to get out of bed to go comfort her.   Little did I know that she was indeed truly terrified and that what she was screaming was not 'spider', but "FIRE!!"  As I came out of my room for the short trip down the hall, it became clearer what she was saying and I could see that there was smoke filling the hallway.  I called for my husband to get up and come help me. As I neared the doorways of the two children's bedrooms, which were adjacent to one another, I noted the smoke coming from the little girls room.  I told the older girls to get out of the house, flipped the light switch in the little girls bedroom and saw that the room was completely filled with smoke, and flames were shooting up the inside of the outer wall. I called for the 2 little girls and from what sounded very far away I could hear one screaming.  The little girls were only 3 & 4 and slept in a bunk bed. I leaned down and felt for the youngest, she reached out and snatched onto me.  I pulled her from the bed and turned to give her to my husband who was behind me, and said I would get the other one.  I climbed up on the bed and couldn't see her in the all the smoke.  I could hear her screaming in terror, she sounded like she was in another room, the sound was so muffled. I kept calling to her and feeling around the bed, and I couldn't find her.  I moved up further on the bed and finally caught ahold of her, she was huddled into the corner against the wall, afraid to move.   I pulled her to me and we climbed out of the bed, I then ran with her to the front of the house and out the door.  Once out there, I took a head count.  Of my 5 children, I had 3 of them there.  My husband was not there either, I looked at my oldest daughter and asked her where her father and sister were.  She said they went back into the house to put the fire out.  My youngest daughter was still in the house, on the closed in front porch, where the smoke had not penetrated as of yet.  I went back in and got her, and then proceeded to panic that my other daughter was in there with that smoke and fire and her dad.  After a few moments, they both emerged from the house saying the fire was out.  I never heard a siren that night, no fire trucks arrived on the scene. We had no phone to call 911 at the time, and didn't even think to go pound on the neighbors doors.  Fortunately for us, it was a small fire, and when the smoke cleared we were able to see that it had been caused by an air conditioner that plugged into the wall.  The wiring was faulty and had caught a childs plastic kitchen toy on fire, where it was pushed up against the cord.   I remember when my 2nd oldest daughter came out of the house with her dad, that I grabbed her, hugged her and told her that I was very proud that she was a brave girl, but don't EVER do anything like that again. She was 11 years old.  Now she is 27 and is still trying to put out fires for the family. 

In reflection, this could have been a disasterous incident that could have taken any or all of us.  I'm happy it was a small thing, and no one suffered anything more than fear that night.  

As we grow older and look back at our lives, there are instances such as this that stand out.  How we handle these things make them good or bad memories.  Sometimes, good things, and realizations come out of bad things.  

I may post more of my memories here, or I may just let this one stand alone.  We'll see what the future holds for this blog.