December 15, 2004

I'm a few days late posting this, but 4 years ago, on December 15th, our lives changed drastically. This is gonna be long so just bare with me! Read it if you want, if not, that's fine too. I want to get this all down so I'll never forget. Robert, the boys and I had gone to eat at the Icehouse with some friends and then headed home to our house on the South Green. Kase had just turned 3 and Koy was 10 months old. After we got home, I got the boys bathed, in their pajamas and put to bed and then went to bed myself. You know when you first go to sleep and if something wakes you up you are so out of it you don't know what's going on? Well I was there. Kase came in my room, woke me up and told me "Momma, my room's burning". I guess I thought he was just playing around so I told him to go back to bed. So he left, came back and said "No, really Momma, my room is burning." By then I woke up a little more and jumped out of bed. I ran in his room to find the ceiling and the wall by his bed on fire. Of course, panic mode hit and all I could do was try to turn the light on. I remember hitting the wall over and over again trying to get the light to turn on! I went to wake Robert up, which took some work, and by then all I could think about was "get this fire out". Robert grabbed his bedding, along with his favorite horse Cody that he got from Betsy when he was in the hospital, off of his bed and threw it on the fire. Of course that did nothing but fuel the fire, so we ran outside and got the water hose and drug it through the house but it wasn't even long enough to get to his room. Robert hit the end of that hose, slipped in the water that was all over the floor and fell to the ground. The whole time Kase is right under my feet and I was yelling at him to get outside. We knew we weren't going to get it out, so Robert grabbed his clothes out of the washing machine, I grabbed my cell phone off of my nightstand and Koy's diaper bag off the table and we ran outside. Hmmm, what a good mom I am! I left my baby boy laying in his bed sleeping in a house that is on fire! But don't worry, I got my cell and his diaper bag! It's amazing what you think about when it's really happening. You always say "I'll get this and this and this." Well guess what, it's kinda hard to think when the situation is real! Anyway, I did realize it really quick and ran back in to get him. Robert grabbed his mud boots and coat out of his pickup, slipped them on (he wasn't wearing anything but his shorts!) and called the fire dept. He also called his boss, Billy, because it was his house we were living in. We lived 8 miles out of town so it seemed like forever before anyone got there, and most of the people that came to help beat the fire trucks. Most of Robert's family, several of his friends, and several people that go to our church were there in a heartbeat. All the men, including our preacher were running in and out getting what they could out of the house before it all burned. Robert running around in his shorts, coat, and mud boots, Rob noticing that I was shoeless and asking me where my shoes were so he could get them for me, and all of them asking what I wanted them to get first. I'll never forget just standing there in awe of all the people there helping us, risking theirs lives to save our stuff. And believe me, that's all it is, just a bunch of stuff. If my little 3 year old hero would not have woke up and made me get out of bed, he for sure would not be here today and probably the rest of us wouldn't either. Stuff can be replaced, but the lives of your children cannot. I think about that every day, and how grateful I am to have them here. While all of this was going on, they were sitting in Shelly's pickup with her and I guess Kase inhaled a little smoke because he thew up all over her! And I remember Koy standing up in the driver's seat leaning on the stearing wheel watching our house burn and waving, saying "bye bye, bye bye". It broke my heart!!! I know he didn't know what was going on and was probably just saying bye bye because he thought he was driving, but I'll never forget his sweet little hand just waving away. I really don't want to bash the firefighters of this great town because it is an awesome thing that they do and I would not want to be the one that does what they do, but they did show up and almost immediately ran out of water. Luckily Baird was called too and they showed up just in time. They finally got the fire out. Kase's room and the living room were destroyed but for the most part the rest of the house was okay. However, everything was so smoke damaged there was very little we could actually save. Every time I think about going in there after it was all over, I can still smell that awful smell of melted plastic from all of Kase's toys. It makes me sick just thinking about it. I waited until morning to call my family because I knew they would either be up all night worrying, or show up in the middle of the night. As soon as my brothers found out they were on there way. They got stopped by a highway patrol on the way for speeding and actually got to use the excuse "there really is a fire" and got away with it!!! My dad came too of course. We had a pool table in the middle of our living room, which was still standing, but completely destroyed as was everything on it. I had been wrapping presents and had all the wrapping paper and stuff on it. There was also a deck of cards. Mike was just kind of going through everything on top of the pool table and got to the cards and in the middle of everything burned, there was a card, untouched. I can't remember for sure, but I think it was the ace of hearts, and I'm pretty sure he took it and still has it. Before noon that day they already had a fund set up for us at the bank with plenty of money to get us going again. People were dropping clothes off at the office for the boys, bringing food, money, presents (all the Christmas presents I had bought for everyone were destroyed), gift cards, the list goes on. We got checks from people out of town that we had never even heard of. Lynn, one of my bosses, came out and helped me pick through what was left of everything. Robert's aunt went out and bought a truckload of "Santa" toys. I just can't get over how generous people can be, especially during this time of year, or the fact that we are all alive and well. There are always those "what ifs" and I'm so glad I get to think "what if he wouldn't have got me out of bed" instead of the alternative. I love my little hero, and his little brother and daddy too! I am so blessed!