Close to home

This morning, as I was half-watching the local news while getting the kids' breakfast, getting my breakfast, depositing them in the playroom hoping they'd give me 5 minutes of "freedom" so I could get the breakfast dishes washed and wipe down the table, high chair, and booster seat, I half-noticed a story about a house fire in a nearby town, and thought I heard that one person died in the fire. Stories about house fires always get my attention, because I feel like deaths in those situations can often be avoided, as it seems like in many of the stories there were no working fire alarms in the house. I've thought many times about initiating some kind of fire alarm inspection program for charity, in order to ensure that every fire alarm is working.

Anyway, after the story was over I moved on with the day's to-do's. I'd all but forgotten about the story on the news - it was a snippet I'd heard about, but was over as soon as the anchorperson moved on to the next story, but it didn't directly affect me.

A few minutes ago, Steve and I were sitting side by side at our computers. I'd just placed an order for both a toddler urban BundleMe and the BabyJogger foot muff, because, although they're essentially the same thing, I didn't know which one would work best with the boys. Steve, out of the blue, asked me if I'd heard that story about the house fire in Lawrence on the news this morning. I thought he was going to say he saw the house from the highway, or something similar, because he drives through the town where it took place on the way to his NH office. Instead, he said that the woman who was killed in the fire was one of his employees. She worked on the assembly line. She and her husband initially got out of the house just fine, but she went back in with the intention of saving her 20-year-old special needs son. She and her son both died.

I thought it was very telling that it was the mother who went back into the burning house to save her son, rather than the father. That is how strong the bond between mother and child is. Although this is truly a horrible story, I think that part of it is beautiful.

I am so deeply sorry for this family's loss.