We had a little fire in the house today.

Hubby has his great-grandmother’s dresser, which is topped with a huge, round, thick mirror in a heavy wooden frame.

He left some incense burning today and went shopping.

I have my little space in the attic…computer, books & stuff. I heard the clunk and, when no one answered, I had get off my butt to go & look.

The mirror had fallen out of its frame. No one was in the room. I figure it was just it’s time -- old age. Anyway, when I got there, I found a small fire on the dresser. I beat it up with a blanket and bellowed for the kids to bring water. (Ages 17 & almost 14.) They came & dumped pots as quickly as they could.

I saw a lot of light coming from under the dresser, and threw at least two pots of water under there.

I asked my daughter to call Dad’s cell. When he got home, I was picking through all the charred stuff – soggy and/or burnt bills & papers, old keys, scattered pennies, various little melted plastic things, wet books & laundry… The first thing he said when he walked in was a question about whether the fire extinguisher was functional. I hadn’t thought of that. So it was my fault. I wasn’t sure until that moment. It's good to have that kind of help or I'd be really confused.

The mirror survived. It rolled and fell flat, and we walked on it the whole time.

I didn’t see the dog throughout the ordeal. Maybe he was smart enough to stay out of the way. When I did see him, I remembered an old joke we like to quote around here. It’s from a collection of insurance claims that are imperfectly articulated. In one of them, a guy explained how his car engine caught on fire, “So I took my dog and smothered it with a blanket.” Nobody thought it was funny this time.

The livingroom ceiling has looked better. When I left for work, they had a big garbage can in the living room and were taking down soggy tiles.

I tried to lighten the mood a little. Hubby failed to see the humor.
I said that “Laughing is an option... Crying is an option…”
He said “Shutting up is an option…” (I was still chuckling when I checked in at work.)