Vagabonds

Usually I can't explain my absence without feeling like I'm making excuses. This time it's different.

It happened about three weeks ago. Daniel and I had fallen into a light sleep while watching tv at about 11PM on a Thursday. I hate sleeping with the television on, because I just end up waking every hour or so and never feel like I'm really resting. So, I awoke enough to ask him to please turn it off, and he got up to turn the heat off too. It was then, as I was turning over to fall asleep again, that I heard yelling in our apartment building. At first, I thought it was some domestic fight until I heard, amid stamping and raised voices, the ultimatum word, fire.

We bolted out of the bed, and a fierce red glow bathed the hill outside our bedroom window. We didn't know how much the flames had engulfed yet, and scrambled to throw on clothes and grab cat and dog, fragmented logic mingling with panic in our minds. When we opened the front door, we were somewhat relieved to find our hallway yet untouched by the flames we heard growling through the top two floors. People were rushing in and out of their open apartments, yelling to each other. We put the pets in Daniel's Outback, and I ran in to grab my bag and the car keys, leaving our door wide open. I came back out and realized Daniel was barefoot. I wanted to go get his shoes but a big crash from within the building forbode any further entrance.

We sat silent in the car, driving away as the giant flames surged towards the sky through the roof of our apartment building. The cat meowed, his cracking voice anxious as he hopped around inside the car.

"All our stuff," I said, my hands shaking.

"It's nothing. We have each other," Daniel said, reassuring me and grabbing my hand.

"I'm glad we got the pets," I said, letting the fact settle my mind a bit. Our little family was safe.

"Me too. You did a good job, girl. You were brave."

Tears clouded my eyes, and the firetruck sirens screamed as they neared the apartment complex.

We didn't want to stay and watch it burn. Instead, we told a police officer at the scene who we were so they could know we got out safely, and headed to my parents' house.

We stayed with my parents for a few days until we moved to our friend Jason's house, to the vacant room where Daniel lived before we got married. So many people helped us out during this hard time, including may parents and Jason. My work family at the bank pitched in and gave us a monetary gift, which we didn't think we would use when we received it, but have since used every penny to help rebuild the trappings of everyday life we too often take for granted. We re-bought toiletries of every kind, as well as grocery items and miscellaneous things.

Thankfully, our stuff wasn't scorched. Istead, it incurred smoke damage and water damage from the hoses that put out the fire. Everything smelled like smoke, even my shampoo bottles and makup.

We had renter's insurance to replace anything that was damaged beyond repair, and they gave us a different apartment to live in for a while, though we hope to find a house in the next couple of months. Now we are unpacking boxes and trying to sort our lives again.

So it's been a rough holiday season, but we are still here, and I'm thankful for so much. Hopefully soon I'll be able to post a happy tale of how we found our first house.

We are trying to cultivate flowers in the ashes.