I fixed it/blue, gray, and pink

Dear Hannah,

Well, with a lot of help from my hubby, I think we have reigned in the header. My only wish is that instead of a white cup, it was our "cougar coffee" cup!



Today, it was gorgeous in Nashville. Low 80s for a high, sunny, with a light breeze. Yet, my mood was blue and gray tempered with pink. The cherry trees are in full bloom and I had the day off. Last night, however, our neighbors across the street experienced a tragedy. At about 10:30pm, Tycho started barking madly and I saw red lights out of the corner of my eye. I looked out the window and saw flames pouring out of the windows of their two story house. I shoved my feet into my sneakers and with just my PJs on, I rushed outside to see if everyone was okay, joined shortly by hubby. We had 7 fire trucks right in front of our house! The sounds of crying, breaking glass, spraying water and dogs barking mixed with the stench of smoke and formed a morbid scene. While all the people were safe, two of their treasured dogs died. The family was inconsolable. The firefighters kept entering the smoldering house with oxygen tanks that were on timers. Every two minutes we heard what sounded like your kitchen timer and they would exit - they spent an hour looking for their animals. It was a heartwarming/heartbreaking show of love. Neighbors I have never met in the 3 years we have lived here shook our hands and we exchanged numbers. For all the ups and downs we have experienced in this 'hood, it was an awful, beautiful sight - a community gathering to mourn for and help each other. Today, the house is boarded-up and empty. Little could be salvaged. All I could think about were toothbrushes. When you take stock, we use so much stuff - little stuff that seems inconsequential like deoderant, a tube of lipstick, silverware, a cell phone charger... All those little things we need or want and make life better and easier. Not that I am proud of my hoarding tendencies, but I want to tell you that I had flip-flops enough to spare and I'm glad for it. They had nothing on their feet and I was thankful I had a tangible gift to give last night. Needless to say, I've been thinking a lot about what it is to be a neighbor and to love a neighbor. In all the ugliness of that event, I saw charity, humility, and loving kindness. We do not and should not need a fire to bring out these qualities and I won't say the tragedy was justified by it, either. But, I will say that even in the midst of darkness, there was light. Even in the blue and gray, there was a touch of pink.

love,
Ellen