For Every Body & Every Home

Several years ago and five days before Christmas I received a frantic call from my daughter Ashley. Her house was on fire and completely engulfed in flames. As I quickly sped to her home I could see the huge flames and smoke in the sky on my way. She had only been married four months and this was her first home. I knew her tree was up and her shopping was done, this was to be their first Christmas together. As I pulled up to her home and ran through the crowd that had gathered I panicked when I couldn’t find her. I finally found her by the ambulance where her husband was being treated for burns. I grabbed her so tight and just cried. We were so lucky they were both alive as I found out there had been an explosion in their garage. Although her husband was hurt, he was going to be ok.

Fire trucks at the scene. Becky’s daughters. Whitney, Kimmie, Stefanie, and Ashley (from left to right).

After her husband was released from the hospital I walked through her burned house for the first time with her. As she entered the front door and saw the disaster she fell apart and started crying. I told her it’s ok you have insurance. Try telling this to someone who has just lost everything they own five days before Christmas. She had run out of the fire in bare feet in December. She then taught me, her mother, a very important lesson. She said, “Mom, I’m not crying for the things I’ve lost, I’m crying for the things I have. I could have lost Bill.” She then opened her hand and showed me the one thing she had grabbed on her way out of the house, the ornament off the tree “Our First Christmas”, not even her shoes or purse.

As we were talking one day after the fire she told me how she had come to really appreciate life and all that it holds, she said, “Mom, I’m so much more sensitive to people now. Everyone has a story.” She truly had taken a negative and turned it into a positive. Sure, the days and months that followed have been hard and there have been many tears, but what an example. As I reflect on my life, I look at my family and realize they are growing up and moving on with their lives so fast. Instead of looking at it as my last child is leaving me in a year, I’m trying to look at all the firsts in my life. Stefanie’s first baby has taken his first steps and said his first words. Ashley had her first year of marriage and her first crisis, all within a few months. She has come out of it with a first class attitude and a brand new rebuilt first home to celebrate their first anniversary. Kimmie has graduated from high school and is experiencing her first apartment, first job hunting experience and her first bills. Whitney had her birthday on the first of the month, got her drivers license, her first speeding ticket and has had her first date.

I’m going to try to embrace the future with the firsts in my life instead of the lasts. After experiencing how fragile life is I want to be the first to say thank you to the great team around us and I love you to the people in my life.

Becky

Originally printed in the 2004 Fall/Holiday Wholesale Catalog