I didn't start the fire . . .

By Traci Rork
Miss Informed

(2.19.09)

“Time can be a greedy thing - sometimes it steals the details for itself,“ - Khaled Hosseini wrote in the Kite Runner.

On Tuesday morning I found out first hand that fire is just as greedy as time, and twice as scary. In the middle of the night my neighbor’s apartment caught on fire. While no one was hurt, the apartment was still smoldering hours later and everything inside was either melted and black or wet and ruined.

The unmistakable smell of bonfire was bound to a mangled and depressing building right outside my window. The beds, couch, kitchen counters, refrigerator and even the metal shutters were burnt and warped and barely recognizable.

There were outlines on the fridge where photos used to be and partial picture frames hanging on the sooty walls. Black sludge lined the floors and pages from books were strewn everywhere.

All of the clothing, furniture, photo albums, journals were gone. Time may steal the details, but at least it takes some time. Fire on the other hand, swoops in immediately with unforgiving fury and takes the details while the neighborhood helplessly watches.

I covered the crime beat at the Citizen for two years and wrote about trials, burglaries, fires and death. I was a bit of a Debbie Downer if you will. So let’s just say that this wasn’t my first time seeing a family going through loss. I’ve seen much worse unfortunately. And it wasn’t too long ago when Hurricane Wilma washed through the walls of many homes and wilted quite a few details herself. Bad things happen. But like we’ve all heard people say, no matter how bad you think you have it, someone out there has it much worse. Which is sad but true and intended to invoke gratefulness.

Hard working firefighters kept the flames from gutting the other three units in the building or spreading the 10 or so feet to my building. Ironically, just last week I was reprimanded by my landlady for ripping down our smoke alarm. It happened awhile ago in the middle of the night when the batteries died and prompted it to beep sporadically. While I could have just replaced the batteries, sleep interrupting annoyance granted me the strength to peel it from the ceiling. In hindsight I see just how unannoying that little contraption is compared to the alternative . . . and I am grateful the situation wasn’t worse for all parties involved.

This foggy weekend began Friday the 13th no less. Low clouds creaped through the cemetery, slinked over the docks and lasted into the night making Duval Street look like a movie set equipped with fog machines. Then Valentine’s Day, white-washed and wonderful was again full of fog which melted off Sunday but returned at sunset while we were sailing. Beautiful but dangerous, scary but mystifying, nature has a way of putting us in our place. You can control a lot of things, but you can’t control the weather - whether you like It or not. And who would want to?

It is to be appreciated, as is life and the unexpected events that are in store for us all. Also to be appreciated are the things and people we choose to fill our lives. We never know how long an era will last and change is unavoidable. Sometimes the worst set of circumstances are thrown at us to see what we can whittle out of them. You know the whole lemons to lemonade adage … sometimes a fresh, new start is a blessing in disguise.

While time and other elements can certainly steal the details of our lives, nothing can touch our relationships with others or our sacred memories. So now that we’ve made it through a foggy Friday the 13th and had a chance to smell the roses on Valentine’s Day, be grateful for every chance we’re given to enjoy another moment. There are so many details that time provides us with, it’s only fair that we leave a few behind. Choose wisely what you cherish and love loyally what you choose.