Lightening crashes

Imagine being 50 minutes away from your house, perhaps at work, when you get a phone call like this: "You have to come home. The house is on fire!"

This was the nightmare that plagued me Tuesday. I heard my name paged over the intercom at work and found Maverick on the other end, telling me that lightening hit the house, he ran upstairs and saw thick, black smoke, grabbed my daughter and called 911.

I threw myself into my car, flicked my cell phone into the passenger seat, turned off the radio and DROVE! Thank you, BMW, thank you, BMW, played over and over in my mind as I raced home, fearing the worst. I drove like a well-trained race car driver. I've made the commute from my office hundreds of times...I'm used to the long drive. But this time was different...the drive was taking twice as long.

I got home in record-time to find five fire trucks in my driveway and a water hose snaked into my upstairs window. It seemed as if fifty people were milling about and everything around me slowed down as my brain processed what was going on around me.

First, I found my family and hugged them. Mental check off the 'ole list that they were fine. My second thought went back to that hose. Fear set in that the firemen were going to douse the upstairs of my home with water to tame a flame. All I kept thinking about were my photo albums. All the time and loving care I've taken to document my entire existence...up in flames, I panicked.

As it turned out, luck was on the Fives family side. During a typical summer thundershower, a bolt of lightening struck the roof of my house. The electricity made its way into the attic and raced down the air conditioning duct. It popped out my daughter's bedroom ceiling and smoked some insulation on the way out but that was it. No burning embers, no attic fire, no lost power or computers. Just a stinky mess.

You never know how your brain is going to comprehend such a disaster. Maverick was in complete control. He was directing people this way and that. Once the firemen left, he had roofers plugging up the hole and an emergency clean up crew washing down walls and covering the black mess in Camryn's ceiling.



I on the other hand, did not fare as well...I just didn't know what to do with myself. I walked around the house, useless, in a fog and devoid of being able to make a single decision. My brain turned off...I wasn't ready to deal with the scare. So I picked up the toys on the playroom floor and wiped down counters. A friend came by to hug me and I asked her for a raincheck. I was afraid to cry right then because I didn't yet know what all of the damage was nor how lucky we truly were. People asked me a thousand questions and needed answers I couldn't give. I was in shock and I knew it. Finally, the stress was too overwhelming so I left Maverick to deal with the post-lightening mess and I hid at the neighbors.

Eventually, as the dust settled and the smoke cleared, so did my brain. I was able to once again put two and two together. I made sleeping arrangements for us, got our things together and began to put our life and home back together. I'm very thankful for all of my friends who rallied around us. I'm thankful that the damage to our home was contained and in the scheme of things, manageable. I'm thankful that my photo albums are not ruined. And tonight, after almost a week, I'm thankful to be sleeping in my own bed again.

So if you wondering why I haven't blogged in a while, consider yourself up to speed.