Tried by the Fire

"When you have been tried by the fire..."

I never knew what those words meant really until years after I experienced a house fire. I am still learning lessons predicated upon that fire of so long ago. Here is the burning of my house in a poetic setting. Travel with me down the ladder of emotions and back up again as we meet laughter, pain, joy, sorrow, and hope while weaving our way through the verses of this poem.

Renewed Faith in My Fellowman

 

April 16, 1987, is not a date

 That I’ll soon forget

For the happenings of this day

 Left me quite upset

I was running late so I didn’t

 Take time to put on my rings

I left them on my dresser with

 My other jewelry things

Our house was about 7 miles from the

School where I taught Special Education

And as I drove, I enjoyed the breezy sun-filled day

 With a sense of quiet elation

I enjoyed the new spring green of the grass

 That would soon need mowing

I enjoyed the tenacious little daffodils

 That had just started growing

I chatted with my Son about

 What time I would pick him up

I reminded my daughter to finish her

 Apple juice from her new sippy cup

After I dropped my kids off at

 Their respective schools

I hastened to my job because being

 Late was against the rules

I made it to school, went to the office,

 Said, “Hello” and signed in

Didn’t have a clue that within two hours,

 I’d be back in that office again

I spoke to my colleagues as I walked

 Past each of their doors

Then I went out to the portable building

 To begin my daily chores

Of teaching reading, math, spelling

Language, science and social studies

And was glad to see my two new teacher’s aides who

 Had turned out to be my hard-working buddies

We had all settled in for the morning and had

 Our children working as hard as could be

When the secretary interrupted our second class

 By intercom and said that she needed to see me

I said I would come as soon as the next bell rang

 And I had let my children go to P.E.

She told me to come right then and to let one of the aides

 Keep my kids and to bring the other one with me

“Wonder what’s up?” I said aloud as my two aides

 And I looked at each other with puzzled eyes

“It’s probably that shipment of workbooks I ordered and

She wants them out of the office as fast as instant pie.”

Well, we sped down to the office because interrupting

 Class for a workbook shipment is simply not done

When we rounded the corner of the office door, the secretary said,

 “Just got a call and your house is on fire hon.”

My aide started to have hysterics and

 I began to try to calm her

When the secretary said, “Not your house, but (pointing at me)

 Yours, while touching me on my shoulder

I stammered, “M-my house is burning down?

 Nah, somebody has made a mistake”

My boss told me to go home and my aide

 And another one, along with me to take

A leveled headed aide drove and when we were 5 miles from my house,

 We could see a thick black column of billowing smoke

We all watched that column but I

 Was the only one who spoke

“If that’s my house burning, there won’t be

 Anything left when we get to it, you know.”

The level-headed aide said, “It’s not your house because that

Fire is too close, and we still have five miles to go

“Maybe you’re right; some farmer is probably burning

 Off his field and it got out of control.”

Said the other aide, while I onto that

 Slim hope tried to keep hold

You know, in the rural areas, you travel

 Through so many twists and turns

But no matter how many twists and turns we made, we kept coming

Back toward that column of smoke where we could see stuff burn

Was it only my house that we

 Found blazing that April day?

Nope! When we got there, my Mom’s had already burned

 Completely and mine was well on its way

I stood there and watched my son’s room, my

Daughter’s room and our bedroom go up in flames

When I think about it, I still think

 It was an awful shame

That there was no way to get a pumper there

Fast enough to pump water from the ditch

But you know how things work; they

 Seldom go off without a hitch

By the time the pumper came, four

Miles from the nearest town

My little house with all of its contents

 Had burned to the ground

I thought about my kids' pictures that

 I had had taken through the years

I thought about my new teaching wardrobe and the new

 Riding lawn mower and I couldn’t see for the tears

I remember wondering why the

 Grass didn’t stop growing

I remember wondering why the wind

Just kept right on blowing

So much for my ideas about treating people right and

Doing the right thing, all of that had just come up empty

Then I thought about how though the fire had taken

 Her house and ours, GOD left my Mom with me

Then I remembered that we had changed insurance companies and the old coverage

Ran out and the beginning new coverage on the following week would fall

What week did my house burn, the week when there

 Was not a single smidgeon of coverage at all

That meant that everything that I had worked and scraped for for

Thirteen years was lost and no way to replace any of it

People kept saying, “These things can be replaced.” And I thought,

 “The next person that says that to me is gonna see me have a fit

Sure enough, the level-headed aide said “it,” and I screamed

At her, “You just tell me how!”

“You’re going home to your house intact;

 What cha’ got to say about that now?!”

She never said a word, but bowed her head and

 Then asked me if I had called my spouse

I told her that somebody had gone home and

 Phoned his job from their house

When my husband got there, he just sat on the side

 Of the hill and just sobbed and sobbed

He said that he couldn’t feel any worse

 If we had just been robbed

The only thing that I kept saying aloud was that

 I didn’t even own a broom straw

And I kept wondering, in my mind, when that awful

 Knot in my throat was going to start to thaw

And that level-headed aide to which

 I threw a screaming fit

She only supplied my son with an entire wardrobe (shoes and all)

 And even threw in a broom and dust pan kit

Furthermore, my kids’ respective schools replaced

 Their new bikes that we had just bought

And we were supplied with housewares, small appliances, clothes

 And money from the school where I taught

From the churches that we were affiliated with, we

 Received furniture, linen, money and more

From the whole community to our family,

 There was a tremendous outpour

So we made it through it all, as victims

 Of catastrophes, with time and effort, do

But the fire that happened on April 16, 1987,

 Did my faith in my fellowman renew

And regarding total replacement fire insurance,

 Allow me to tell you one thing more

Learned a lesson?  You betcha!  Nowadays,

 This family is fire insurance poor!

********

Years have passed since that fateful day

That life tugged off my rose-tinted glasses

And the fray shook some of my faith away.

I remember that youthful anger came to my aid

About what had happened to me

Until I realized that my anger was directed to

A Being I could not even see.

And better yet, I realized that He had carried me

Such a ways from where I started that  for a

Moment, I forgot that by His grace I was

Allowed to be the success that I had become

In fact, had been chosen for a particular duty

Way before I was gifted to my Mom.

Now, I travel this world and work at

Spreading hope and encouragement through

Whatever work I am given to do.

I have learned to cheer others on who are running their race well

And to pick still others up who by life have been felled

And yes, every now and then I am brandished back through

The finishing fire again to get more impurities out

But now, I stay prayerful and know that the God of Heaven

Has my life plan and is working all things out.

So, when you see me smiling through my pain

And you see me unfold my umbrella in the rain

Just know that I have full assurance that my Father

Is, but working on my impurities again.

...And I shall come through as pure gold!

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones