A shrill noise split through the air, taking me by surprise. It took me a second to realize what it was: the fire emergency alarm.
If you've ever lived in an apartment building, then you may have experienced this. But for me, it was the first time. I remember the building mananger had told us that if it ever went off, we needed to evacuate asap. So I quickly ran from room to room, turning off the piercing sound that threatened to make my already sore ears explode. Of course it cut Charlotte's nap short, but I left her in her crib as I flew around the home collecting things I thought I would need if stuck outside for a while: purse, diaper bag, cell phone, baby food, camera. I got the baby ready to brave the cold outside, and went to the door. In all, it only took about 4 minutes. Then I made my way to the front door. I put my hand against it, like we were taught in the Ronald McDonald Fire house.
On a side note, I will never forget that fire house. It was a learning tool that was actually a camping car but had the layout of a house, and pumped strawberry flavoured "smoke" under the doors. It was your mission to close the doors, feel if they were hot, drop and roll, and get out safely. We loved that thing.
Anyways, I felt the door, and it was not hot. At this point, I decided I was being a little ridiculous. It was probably someone who had burnt their toast, and was feeling downright embarressed by now. So with my things in hand and the baby on the other arm, I opened the door, fully planning to follow protocol and get to the stairs, but thinking I'd be back inside within a number of minutes. I opened the door, and was shocked by what greeted me.
Thick black curling smoke had filled the hallway, making it impossible to even see the stairwell, even though our apartment is only 10 feet away from them. I slammed the door shut and thought about my options, which were basically 2. I could try and brave the smoke and run for the stairs, or I could go out on our balcony and drop Charlotte down to someone and then jump down myself. Because I didn't know where the fire was, I decided to go to the balcony.
Our neighbours had done the same thing. We waited, anxiously speaking about what was going on. I started thinking about what would happen if the building really did burn down and we lost everything. In my mind, I went through every article near and dear to me. I'm not the most sentimental person in the world, so "stuff" really isn't that important to me. Or so I thought. I don't care about the Xbox, the couch, and kitchen apparel. But then I started to find things that did matter. The ring my dad gave me. Several lifetime's worth of photos. Charlotte's hospital bracelet from when she was born. I started to get scared and play the What if? game. What if we did lose it all? What if the baby blanket sewn so lovingly by my daughter's Godmother was destroyed? What if all of our pictures and videos were lost? What if Charlotte's baby book was gone?
The alarms finally stopped and we were allowed to go back inside. It turns out that the apartment next to us had left some ribs on a lit stove, and it had caught fire. Since they had left to go shopping, they didn't even know about it until the fire had been put out. It was a brave neighbour who had seen the smoke coming out from under their door and broke into their apartment to put out the flames. Luckily for them, the damage was mostly smoke damage. They didn't lose anything of importance to them. Neither did we. But I did take from it a valuable lesson.
I realized that yes, I would be devastated by those momentos being destroyed. Those objects are proof that we are alive. That we've lived. That we've survived. Why do we attach importance to them? Well, I decided it's not really the things in itself that are important, but the feelings you get you get when you touch the object. The scene that floods your mind when you caress it. And that feeling,that memory, I realized, is something that can't be taken away from you. It's a part of you.
So I'm glad that I learned something out of this.
Oh, and I also bought a fire/waterproof chest to put my pictures and small objects in ;-)
