Day seventy-five: sobering

Today, I received a phone call from a co-worker double-checking my apartment complex's location, and then telling me that my complex might be on fire. Panic does not even begin to express what I was feeling.

I called one of my neighbor friends, who answered the phone not with a "hello," but with a "it's the apartment complex across the street." I knew that if the fire spread, she would take my animals out and they would be safe. Relief spread over me like a warm blanket. I called the one person I knew in the burning complex, and he promptly called his roommate. Luckily, their apartment was undamaged.

When I came home 3 1/2 hours later, the complex was still smoking. The fire truck was still spraying. The media was still reporting. Lives were still changing.

One lady would have been badly injured (if not killed) had her friend not kicked the door in to wake her and get her out before the roof collapsed. A pet owner lost her dog because the firefighters would not allow her to go in and save it. I cannot imagine that horror.

Even as I write this, I have goosebumps. It is so sobering a thought of how quickly everything can change. This could have very easily been my apartment complex.

One of my neighbors kept saying how horrible it would be to lose everything. I just thought that I really didn't care about the things, the stuff. Would it be inconvenient? Yes, but if my animals and friends are alive, then that is all I care about.

I need to live purposefully and with a lot more gratitude.