Anniversaries

We all celebrate or anniversaries, and we all mourn certain anniversaries. So in my opinion some are good and some are bad, but I also believe that it is what we make it. Some anniversaries might include: weddings, first times..., deaths, etc... Well for me today is the 1st anniversary of a house fire. I am choosing to make this a good anniversary, I am choosing to celebrate the lives the were not lost, luckily none were lost, so you see I have alot to celebrate. A brief recap: At the beginning of June we moved about 150 miles away to a small town, we moved in with my parents, planning to stay for a few months and find us a place. It was crowded- 9 people in a 3 bedroom house. My brother gave my husband and i his room. He slept in the main living room. My 3 children slept in the smaller living room , that sits right off the front porch. One slept in a crib, one in a playpen, one on a mattress.
July 10th around 4:30 in the morning, the fire had enveloped the front porch and moved into the living room. Somehow we were alerted. The fire was a flower pot away from my daughters play pen and flames were raging above her head. All of my children were absolutely unharmed. Life was hard for a few months after that - the house deemed unlivable- my parents insurance company rented camp trailers for us to live in. Imagine 3 kids , 3 adults , 1 29 foot camp trailer. It worked. Stresses high, money at an all time low, we trudged on.
After 3 months we all moved into a rental home. This house was a black widow haven. Scary. Again we trudged on. Finally in October after only a month or so in this house, my family got approved and an offer was accepted on a house. My parents remained living in the rental home for a few more months- all the way thru february i believe. They had there own trials obviously. My dad hurt his leg really bad when running around fighting the fire. It took about a month or two to heal. We all had to clean out the house-list all items in the house, how old they were and how much they were worth. During the winter time, my parents pump house magically burned to the ground as well. Now they had to rebuild that too.
We are all where we are meant to be now, but i learned alot of things.

1. My kids are the best in the world.
2. My family means alot to me.
3. Little things really don't matter.
4. Life is what you make it.
5. When reality hits, it hits hard.

Enough of that-here are things that i have changed after the fire.
6. I always sleep fully clothed, as in, whatever i am wearing is tolerable to the naked eye.
7. I love candles , but i will never burn one in my house again.
8. Every night i check the entire house to make sure all is well.
9. I definitely have fire alarms and make sure they work. (Although with our fire the alarm went off about 5 minutes after we got out of the house)
10. I sleep very lightly, when I sleep. Some nights are better than others, and getting better every day.
11. Every smell that is weird must be investigated completely.
12. I made sure that my insurance company covers all things fire related that could happen in my home.
13. I do not like too, and try not to, leave my house if the dishwasher, washer, or dryer is going. You never know.
14. I also own a fire extinguisher and a CO2 Detector and plan to get more.
15. Most importantly I spend as much time as I can with my family and friends and I no longer worry about how my house looks all the time. Sorry if you come to visit and it is messy, this is why!


All things aside. My family is doing great. We love our new house. Thank you to an awesome real estate agent and an awesome mortgage guy. My husband has a great job that let me become a stay at home mom. My kids are doing great. Very little trauma left from the fire (screams of terror if they hear a fire alarm, but other than that. good). I am definitely working on an escape plan.

I know that this is not the worst thing that ever could have happened to us. This is a Good Anniversary!