15 years

Today is the 15 year anniversary of our house burning down, right in front of our eyes. My babies and I escaped relatively unhurt.

I was never a believer is the Valentines Day candy monopoly, but it was that day, 15 years ago, that my babies and I were preparing to go buy chocolates for an undeserving person. The fire started on the first floor, as we were all prepping to leave on the second. The alarms started, the smoke followed and we escaped out of a window, onto a snow covered room and into a blood covered car. It was all very dramatic.

We survived. That was all that was important. There were may lessons learned that day. One was that stuff is never important, even the important stuff is not important. The things we give power to, papers, artwork, clothes, pictures are all stuff that can either be replaced or will not be necessary to replace.

Children and relationships are more important than any of that stuff. I think the kids escaped with no scars, mental or physical from that moment, 15 years ago. They may have even taken away the knowledge that stuff will never be more important than love. For that, we should be grateful that 15 years ago our house burned right in front of our eyes.