Happy Mother's Day

To all you who are mothers out there- Happy Mother's Day. My family has managed to deliver me a wonderful day. They made me breakfast, brought it to me in bed, brought me a coffee from the corner coffee shop, let me finish my book. We went out to brunch with my brother and his family and my parents. It was a wonderful escape.

I say escape for an unspeakable reason. Our family has been rocked by a senseless and tragic loss. A horrific fire burned down the house of my husband's closest friend in the middle of the night. Their youngest child escaped physically unhurt. The rest of the family was sadly trapped. We are digesting this slowly. The world is a different place now for us. I am constantly reminded of how fragile the world can be, how strong we have to be to make it through sometimes. Our thoughts are with the son, who has searing memories of hearing his father and sister trying to get out and being unable to help them.

I mention this here because this was so senseless. Even though they had had some electrical issues after Katrina, they had no smoke detectors in their home. I have no idea why. Our friend was recently with my husband in North Carolina where we were lucky to avoid an electrical fire- the breaker panel smoking from rodent damaged wires which had then gotten wet from the water damage. The family was overcome by smoke inhalation. The entire house was an inferno within 5 minutes of the son jumping from his window. I can't say the outcome would have changed if there had been any warning before they woke up, but our friend was found feet from the front door. We are not superheros, we can't predict the future, but there are ways we may be able to change what happens.

Check your smoke detectors. Change the batteries. Bring them to your friends if they don't have them, put them in if you have to. Don't put it off for another day.