Liar Liar, OH MY GOD, FIRE

Wow.

Wow.

WOW.

In an instant, your entire world can change.

In an instant, everything that you've taken for granted pretty much your whole life, can literally go up in smoke.

In an instant, you can be upstairs getting one kid dressed, while downstairs, another kid decides to blow out the candle that Daddy lit earlier in the day.

In an instant, while you are helping with socks, the smoke alarm can go off.

In an INSTANT, you can hear your child start screaming hysterically from downstairs.

Wow.

Wow.

WOW.

If you don't have a smoke alarm -

Get one.

As soon as possible.

If you don't -

If WE didn't -

I still may have run down the stairs quickly enough to see flames to the ceiling in my living room.

I still may have been able, to grab the burning "scented sticks in a bottle of scented FLAMMABLE ALCOHOL" before it exploded all over my living room.

I still might have had enough time to grab the bottle and throw it in the kitchen sink, and douse the fire on top of my entertainment center, before any "real" damage happened.

Maybe I would have had the time.

Maybe.

If you read Scott's blog yesterday, you would have read about a seemingly very nice, normal guy, with a seemingly very nice, normal, wife, with a seemingly very nice, normal, life -

who just lost EVERYTHING to a fire.

God, I am blessed that we had that smoke detector.

I am blessed that this happened during the day, when I had a chance to react.

WE are BLESSED, that a spur of the moment decision by my 5 yr old daughter, did not lead to us losing our house, our possessions, our pets, our lives.....

Tonight we had obligations that kept me from testing our fire extinguisher.

I am actually shaking my head at myself as I re-read that last line,

but it is true. Tonight, we had obligations that kept me from testing our fire extinguisher.

After reading that same sentence again -

rather then waiting for tomorrow to make sure it works,

I am going to do it now.

Wow.

Wow.

WOW.

But for the grace of God.

PS - I am adding to this post, as I was just contemplating life as I currently know it while sitting in the bathroom (where I do some of my best thinking)

Thank GOD I had the presence of mind, to assess the situation and respond correctly.

Thank GOD, I had to presence of mind, to calm both of my hysterical children down (one of whom did not even see what was going on but freaked anyway)

Thank GOD, that instead of freaking out myself, that I was able to turn this incident into a lesson for both of my kids, in that I comforted them until they were ready to hear the facts. the facts that a "little" fire such as it was could have easily turned into an uncontrollable fire, and I told them what they should do if GOD FORBID such a thing happens -

'STOP DROP ROLL" if they are on fire

YELL AND GET OUT if any thing or any ONE is on fire.

We won't be burning any candles for a while in our house.

My little Daisies....

Ah, but for the days when grown ups and grown up organizations waited till children were mature enough to schill their own wares! Sadly, those days are no more and now the responsibility falls squarely upon the parents' shoulders to make sure their kids "do" their parts.....

In light of that, Natalie and Cecile are "selling" Girl Scout cookies for their brand new Daisy Scout troop. If your mouth waters as mine does every time I see a green sash with badges or a beret, feel free to email (jill_brennan@timeinc.com), call (h.516-889-.4648 w.212-522-1985) or stop by. NOTE, part of the proceeds will be used to provide cookies and other goodies for our troops overseas.





Alternatively, if you will be at AMA's tomorrow for the Paul / JP birthday bash, I will of course have the sheets with me :)

Thanks for your support!

Jill

Deep In The Heart Of Texas

After 8 years and some strong persuasion (AND finding out the miles on my debit card had accumulated enough to pay for 3 of 4 tickets), we finally dragged the kids out from the "Texas" under our dining room table and hopped on a plane for the "real" Texas. Our journey began with a sleep over at AMA's house on Sunday evening in preparation for a 7:05am Monday flight. Actually, our journey probably began when the kids started "going" to "Texas" under our dining room table but I digress....

After enjoying dinner and chat at AMA's we finally got the girls settled on their pallet (Texas talk, more on that later if'n I remember) and off to la la land. JP, AMA, and I followed shortly after in preparation for our 4:45am wake up call. Surprisingly, we got up, organized, and to the airport (thanks for the ride AMA! And the parking space! And your bed!) with nary a hitch and were up in the air right on time. Cecile and I shared some fruit and conversation with a very nice Texan lady, JP and Natalie did their own thing in the seats behind us, and before you could say "yee HA!" we were touching down at DFW. Where, might I add, the weather was quite a bit nicer than at home. Goodbye, down coats, hats and gloves! Hello, denim jackets! Anyway, while JP collected the luggage the gals and I went outside to search for our transportation. Within 10 minutes Scott and Cassie came to collect us (Cassie correctly pointing out to her dad that the man we were standing with was NOT Uncle Jon-Paul!) and off we went to the Girl Scout store for badges to hand out on the Daisy Scout trip scheduled for later that day. Store was closed. Which turned out to be a mini theme for this vacation. But again I digress....

Since planes no longer serve "free" food (hello, $4 slice of cheese and a cracker!) we were starving by the time we arrived at casa Lessard. Angie had prepared a FEAST for lunch, even Scott was impressed with the spread (if you know Scott you know that's saying something!) and we had a great time eating and making plans for the week. Looking back, that lunch pretty much set the tone for our whole vacation, in that Angie went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we could possibly want or need, and made us all feel very welcome and at ease. That warmth and hospitality continued throughout our entire trip, not just from Angie but from the entire family: Cassie graciously shared her toys, her room, her clothes, her time, etc., with her cousins and was ready for non-stop fun and games from the word go; Dylan (who gave up his bedroom for JP and I) and Marissa put up with and even seemed to enjoy the girls' CONSTANT attention to them and "badgering" of them, attended and hosted "sleepovers", took them out hiking, amused and kidded them all to no end, played games with the "grownups", and were so genuinely nice and upbeat that I found myself hoping our girls will turn out much the same; Scott ensured we NY'ers had plenty of "authentic" Texas fare, both in the restaurants we ate at and with the food he had killed himself, made sure we "got our shoot on" by taking us out to the local shooting range for some target practice AND by giving us a chance to prove our prowess (or lack thereof) with moving targets a la clay pidgeons, and was generally agreeable and congenial to whatever it was the "group" wanted to do at any given time (no small feat!); and Angie made "everything else" (the rodeo trip! tickets to the circus! lunch! homemade pizzas! banana pudding! lunch! trip to the nail salon! Christmas gifts for the girls! lunch! trip to the ranch! pallets (Texas for "blanket on the floor)! packed lunch for the arboretum! etc! etc!! etc!!!!) seem so absolutely effortless it was hard to believe she does not do this kind of stuff for a living.

ANYWAY, we had a fantastic time. Jon-Paul and Scott goofed around together a bunch, Angie and I got to know one each other better and I discovered that I really like her! Not that I didn't like her before but we had never had the chance to really sit down and talk for any length of time. Once we did I discovered that even if she was not married to Scott, I'd like her a lot anyway and I feel that I have gained not a relative by marriage but a new good friend. Cass, Cee and Nat were like peas in a pod, you would have never known by looking at them that they do not get together a few times a week to hang out, giggle and have loads of fun. Dylan and Marissa flitted in and out during our stay but happily were able to spend a bunch of time having fun with both the kids and the grownups. Justin stopped in briefly one night close to bedtime and gave us all an impromptu mini concert with his new guitar, he plays great by the way!

Fires were built, New Year's was rung in, S'mores were constructed, children chased sheep, jumped on trampolines, whispered secrets at bedtime, saw the inside of a jail cell, "drove" a patrol car, rode mechanical bulls, saw a rodeo and a circus, and petted cows, games were played, good food was eaten, movies were watched, cowgirl hats were purchased and worn proudly, Marissa was in handcuffs, sleep was scarce, and a wonderful time was had by all.

I hope it does not take us another 8 years to get back. Somehow, I don't think it will :)