This was NOT a drill...

Last week we experience a fire in our apartment building. We were incredibly lucky to be evacuated and out safely while seeing nothing more than a few tendrils of billowing smoke curling along the ceiling. The firemen came and went. When all was said and done, we came out with no damage but a lingering smoke smell seeping in through our walls from the hallway. For me it was inconvenient, a little surreal (these are things you only HEAR about right??), and a touch scary: Okay, I'll be honest here, I had nothing prepared for in case of fire, and since my cell phone and purse are rarely in their designated "spots" I left the house with my mostly-to-half naked children and one very large blanket dragging along behind us to curl up in-thankfully I was dressed at least! We had a very kind lady from the next building over take us into her apartment shortly after arriving slipper-footed in the parking lot (another thing I'm thankful for-I rarely wear slippers in the apartment!). While Cheerio doesn't seem to be traumatized (again, thankful!), neither do I appreciate comments about how 'exciting' this must have been for her! Honestly, I think she just found it rather inconvenient as well, she just wanted to go back home and continue her day! As did my poor baby, who was yanked from the comfort of her nap with none of her paci's to keep her calm. But, back to my point; A fire is not exciting, someone lost their home-at least temporarily- and probably a great number of belongings that day. Why do we teach our children that firemen and police officers have exciting careers? While I have great respect and a deep sense of wonder for all these hero's accomplish in their every day lives, neither do I wish my children willy-nilly choose to risk their lives in this type of profession. If my child should choose to become a firefighter, or a police officer, or to fight for my freedom, or any other such profession, I can only hope it would be for much more honorable reasons than the fact that people view it as exciting. I can only hope they will be more passionate about their career choice-whatever it may be.

Image from here.