When my second oldest daughter was growing up, her cousin Kelly was her very best friend. They lived about a mile away from us, and the girls spent many nights, birthdays and play dates together. Time and distance have separated Kelly and Jenni now that they are adults, but there is now an added benefit for me. Kelly and her kids have become one of my favorite young adults to hang out with.
My niece Kelly has 2 boys, Kyle, 6 years old, and Gavin, 4. They attend the same school as my two younger kids, where they play together at recess or wave to each other in the school hallways.
Kelly's sister, Tona, is another blessing in this whole picture. She is the same age as my oldest son Scott, but being that they are different genders, after their early years there was not alot of opportunities for me to get to know Tona in her teen years as I knew Kelly. We are making up for all of that now. Tona has 2 more of my great nieces, Nila (4) and Macy,(2) and a new great nephew, Liam, who was born just 3 days after my latest grandson last October.
My Mere and Bella think that Tona's girls absolutely hung the moon. Bella and Macy are the closest in age, so Bella talks about her best friend Macy all the time. Mere enjoys Nila's sweet personality, and they can play with their stuffed toys together for hours. At school, Mere chases Kyle mercilessly, but when we are on a play date, Mere tends to pair off with Nila so they can play in their little girl worlds until we have to tearfully break them apart. Bella is not always so gentle, and is learning how to play nice and gently, although the cousins often go home with scratches, pinches and once, even (to my dismay) a bloody nose. Still, they come back, which I hope means they really love our times together and are developing sweet relationships with my kids that resemble the times I remember of Kelly and Jenni playing together years ago.
When I was talking on the phone to Jenni the other day, she commented on how weird it was that Kelly, Tona and I have become such good friends now, since she remembers the younger years of her childhood and the friendships she had. Of course, if we had not adopted more children later in our life, I would not have had this unique opportunity to spend such quality times with my dear nieces, and my younger children would never have had the cousin bonding time that I valued so very much in my own youth. It's hard to have my grandsons so far away, but I love having great nephews and nieces in the neighborhood so that we can build relationships that have always meant so much to me. It's not a replacement in anyway for the time I miss with my grandsons, but it's a precious part of my life that I hope I never take for granted for the blessing it is.
All of that is background to write about the cousins play date this week. Kelly, Tona and I have been meeting at our local mall to walk 5 miles several times a week. I am terrible at exercising, and I love to eat what I love to eat, so the best chance I have to being healthier is walking. It doesn't seem like work when we are strolling 3 kids around the mall, and talking about everything from movies we like, to foods we hate, to which dress we'd wear to the prom when we lose weight...(none of us are even prom age anymore, but it's fun to dream!!)
This past Thursday we had walked our 5 miles, and planned to get together at my house for a play date once the older kids were out of school that noontime. I put some frozen pizzas in the oven just before the kids showed up, and we all sat down to visit after lunch was consumed and the kids were off on their indoor adventures to "who knows where?". These play dates typically last for the entire afternoon, so once we know the bunny is in the cage and not facing undo suffering at too many little hands, we relax and enjoy adult company while the children enjoy their cousin time. I love these days. Relaxing, laughing, holding baby Liam and just loving having family around.
As the day was winding down, we all began to smell something unpleasant in the living room. It was faint, but growing stronger, so all of us adults began to search for the site of the odor. It quickly became more alarming when we realized it was the smell of an electrical fire, so I went into safety mode to check out where it was coming from. We pulled plugs on appliances, sniffed in all the corners and grew more concerned when the haze in the basement grew. I tried reaching Mike by phone, but was close to panic when I couldn't reach him. Tona and Kelly suggested calling the fire department, so I grabbed my cell phone, realizing right away I did not have the department number on my phone. I called 411, got the number, spoke to a real person and relaxed a bit knowing our dilemma was close to being solved by the professionals. I headed back upstairs to wait.
Within minutes a firefighter called, verified our address (which has recently changed throughout the township), then I waited by the front door. I think I expected a kind fireman to come to my house, check out the situation then leave us with an answer of how to fix the electrical failure that had caused the upset in our home this afternoon.
What I was not expecting was the 3 huge fire trucks that lined our street, lights blaring, horns sounding and Tommy running through the house shouting, "It's a fire, we are on fire, we're all going to die!" Mind you, there was no flames, nor fire to be seen, but the firetrucks were ready for anything. First words out of the kind fire mans mouth? "First, lets get everyone out of the house." Really? I told him there was no "real" fire. "Yeah, that's fine, but let's just get everyone out of the house. Now. "
That's when real panic set in. Gramma was holding baby Liam, drinking a cup of coffee. The kids were in various parts of the house, until Tommy's screaming alerted them to impending danger. Our dear friend who does laundry for us was being supportive and helpful, but mainly, we had 12 children and 5 adults in the house, firetrucks on the street, firemen in full gear briskly walking through our doorway, and we had to get them all out of the house. Now.
Nila started crying, as she was the first to realize we had a big problem on our hands. Everyone went into fast gear, grabbing coats and boots or gathering babies to get them out the door and over to the neighbors. Thankfully, we had a plan in place that if we ever needed to, the neighbors house would welcome us in case of a fire or other disaster, and it just took one call for me to know that plan was still in place!! Everyone headed to the neighbors house...just in time for the firemen to make it into the basement where everyone agreed was where the electrical burnt smell was coming from.
Unfortunately, 4 firemen with all their gear are more weight than normal on our basement stairway, and one of the men broke a step and made it to the bottom of the stairs on his backside. I felt horrible, but he reminded me that in a house fire, you expect things to be falling or in disrepair so he is trained to say, "That's OK, I am fine." I did notice a bit of a limp as he made his way to the other side of the basement, but he must also be trained to suffer in silence. I felt worse about it than he did, or at least he never let on about it.
After putting their thermal equipment on our fuse box, and checking all the wires in the area, and then staying long enough to watch the last of the fire haze to dissipate, they deemed their time with us was coming to a close, excitement over, case closed. They encouraged us to contact an electrician before we went to bed that night, just to be double sure that nothing else was brewing that we should be aware of. Good advice. The last piece of advice we got was when the fire Chief showed up, and reminded me, in the event of a fire, call 911.
I guess I didn't really realize how dangerous this could have been until it was over. When I am looking for a phone number, I always dial 411 on my cell. It never occurred to me to call 911. I know, that is what we train the kids, but for the life of me, I never even thought about calling 911. I guess I didn't realize we were in an emergency situation. Yeah, my bad.
So, the play date ended shortly after the firemen left our house. Mike pulled up to the chaos in front of his house, and said that had to be the scariest feeling that left a lump in his throat. We had my brother come check out the electric, and then our neighbors electrician uncle came to give us the all clear.
Mike cleaned out the gas dryer yesterday, and brought me a hunk of charred lint.
"Is this what you smelled on Thursday when you called the fire department?"
Yep, undeniably so.
Burnt lint. 4 firemen, 3 huge trucks, 4 volunteers, a bit of panic on a playdate. Best of all, no one got hurt. Nothing was ruined. All were safe and sound.
Nila was still crying when they left, and I hope the kids will come again this week for another play date. But I have to say, the day left an impression on me that will stick around for a long time.
And I will remember next time, call 911. It's a pretty cool system that has been set up by a lot of smart people that can really save lives. I hope I don't need it again, but I will remember. Call 911.
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