We had a bit of excitement in our neighborhood today. Not the usual gossip-inducing type of excitement that happens when you find out someone is moving out of state or is getting divorced. The excitement we had today was the type that makes you appreciate the people in your life and everything you have because it could all be gone in an instant.
The day started off dreary and rainy, as anyone who lives in DFW knows. We decided it would be a great day to go to Scarborough Fair in Waxahachie – I mean, who else wants to walk around in a muddy field in the rain except a couple of intrepid photographers? We were almost there when the phone calls started. One neighbor called to ask if our alarm was going off, then a minute later another neighbor called. Something was obviously going on.
To make a long story short, the amazing people in our neighborhood set out to investigate and discovered that our next door neighbor’s smoke alarm was going off and their house was filled with smoke. It turns out they had set the oven to self-clean before they left for church, but something went wrong and the house had slowly filled with smoke. After a flurry or phone calls back and forth, we reached our next door neighbor and they arrived home as the Mansfield Fire Department was setting out fans to air out the house. We returned home a few mintues later and were grateful to find that our neighborhood had leaped to action and saved the day (and the family dog).
As most of you know, Bill and I work from home so we spend a lot of time in our house. And I mean A LOT. When we decided several years ago to build a new house, we spent a lot of time researching communities and neighborhoods because where we live is such an integral part of our daily life. We have loved living here for the past 3 ½ years and the events today have re-confirmed our knowledge that you can buy a house and live anywhere, but it takes a special group of people to make a community and a neighborhood. We are eternally grateful that we found such a wonderful group of people to share our lives with.
Oh, and don’t your oven to self-clean if you are leaving the house. Just sit and stare at it until it is finished.
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