Survival Sept. 1970

Two minute read:

"Power In the Shadows":. ... Oh the Irony....😏

In late September 1970 I survived a house fire. It was before my eighth birthday. Initially, my brother who was age nine, my father and my mother forgot about me. I had been in a deep sleep from two injuries and an allergic reaction I'd had from a medicine for one of the injuries. I was dead to the world for four hours. I woke up stairs to smoked filled rooms I was groggy from the drug I was given after school As I got to the top of the thirteen stairs that lead to our kitchen that was on fire, I heard a commotion. Standing at the top of the staircase I realized as I had trouble breathing and I couldn't see a thing. It was what seemed a white smokey film. I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Moooom!!!!!" I took three steps down unable to see, then a hand pulled me onto my butt and dragged me down to the bottom of the stairs . I knew to stay on the ground. My Mom let me go, I crawled as I heard her tell to me orders of what to do and where to go with my brother. My brother was losing it. As the two of us got out of our home our parents remained in the kitchen fighting the fire in our rented barn house. I knew then to pray, yet I also knew death could ensue. My mom always told us to take care of one another and that my brother carried the name . So, I knew to be true to our mother's orders, I pulled at my crying self-centered older brother, and reminded him that our mother knew what she was doing. He followed my demand. In the end our parents saved our home, we lost our cabinets , fridge and most of our food, yet my brother and I were on time for school the next morning with barely any sleep. My voice and throat felt scorched for a few days , yet we were all alive still and still had a roof over our heads. The thing I remember probably the most inronically, was as the firefighters allowed us to go back into our home at about midnight , fans blasting upstairs just outside the bedroom my brother and I shared. Music played. The song was "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary.---Jody-Lynn Reicher

Comments

2023 Holiday Letter from the Reicher's

Well, I didn't think I'd be doing a Holiday Letter this year, but here goes... The Spirit of Norm is in the air. As the wind whips with minus a true snowstorm. In hopes the Farmers Almanac was correct, I pray to the snow gods. Rain ensued the month of December thus far. We have nearly tripled the amount of rainfall usual for December in New Jersey. And I've witnessed its treachery. Storms such as these hit us hardest in July. Then remained fairly intense through til about early October. Our daughters are doing well, Thank God. Their Dad would be proud of them. Our oldest Sarah, now a Junior at UCLA pursuing her degree in Chemical Engineering. She's digging the whole California scene. Which I thought it was for her. She's had some good traveling on her off times from school. For her March 2023 week off, she drove her and a few friends out to Lake Tahoe and went downhill skiing for a first in nearly 5 years. She had to rent the ski equipment. Funny enough when ...

She's Not Exactly Betty White

She? Yes, she is not exactly Betty White. Nibbles is cute and funny, though. She's one of our two bunnies now nearing 100 years old. She at times appears to need a wheeled walker absolutely, with tennis balls. But instead, I've now spotted her, little rugs covering our living room to dining room floors. Not too many of them, for she would think she was close to a litter box and then there'd be a big mess. Right now, I'm working mostly remotely. This allows for me to check on her four times a day. Too, I've made my office temporarily in our dining room. And thank God for all that. Because I have to make certain her right leg that can no longer function as part of her hopping mechanics to get around, does not get hung up on the side of the litter box. I have to clean her hay excursions, she cannot always control her hay poops, never mind her bladder. That's where my excessive laundry loads have headed. No big deal. I barely use the dryer. I have a drying rack a...

Bunnies, Much Ado About Everything

At my new job this week, back at my old career as a LMT. I told the manager as the evening rolled in that my husband's bunny, Aspen had suddenly stroked out and passed just the morning prior. She had a couple of bunnies in the past. I remarked, "It's so weird now. The older bunny of the two free-range bunnies was expected to pass first, primarily because she was partially paralyzed for the past four months and had been on a bunny form of Meloxicam since mid-May 2024 daily." She, Nibbles had been getting more arthritic since November 2023, yet didn't seem to struggle until May 1st 2024. Her hopping and running around ceased about August 2024. Her ability to leap was November 2024. However, by July 2021 our youngest daughter started calling her, "The Confused Bunny." As it appeared that she was forgetting where she was. I thought that to be a possibility, because so many things had changed and were happening in our family. My husband became terminal sud...

Writing Reality

Search This Blog