Grace the other day made me remember...
Some say it starts when you´re in the womb, I do not know.
A woodworking company near my parent´s house was on fire when my Mum was highly pregnant with me.
She was afraid, but my Dad (to be) said, hey, let´s go, have a look, and "we" all went.
Fire terrifies me. Heat, (real) ovens, stoves, you name it (I manage some hot stuff by now, but weee... it´s not fun! No stoves for me.).
Second grade. The gas station around the corner took fire. Chaos! Noise!
What did the teacher do?
He made us "watch" and then "paint" the fire.
I flipped, like totally.
Directions, orientation and me??? Pfff.
I only knew I WALKED from home to school in 4 minutes, so home is NEARBY!!!!
MY PARENTS, MY BABY-BROTHER!!! OUR HOME!!!
I flipped!
My classmate Mirko, he came over. Took me in his arms, said, "come, look to the right. That´s where I live, right by the burning station, that´s where our doctor is, too, remember? They all stay calm, it´s OK.... it´s under control."
(A young pupil doing the teacher´s job!)
But he could not help me. In the end the director came and called my Mum to come and get me.
Which was bad as my Dad´d taken my Brother to watch the darn scene!
The trainees had to run the shop.
Add 40 years. Mirko came to my now Brother´s shop. He smiled big, seeing me.
And I thought... who is that old man, why is he smiling at me like that? Well, no, I whispered it in my Brother´s ear.
He turned and whispered back, "that is Mirko, he had a life full of drugs, be gentle".
It broke my heart!
He was still ... or again?... that reassuring guy, but, oh, my.
He threw his life away.
I had a hard time to fight my tears.
Another person, now belonging to my family, looked way older than Ingo (who is 7 1/2 years on top of my "tender" age), he is younger than my 5 1/2 years younger Brother. Means he looks like, not kidding 20+ years older than he is. Drugs, I tell you, why, I ask you, why do people do that???
Ingo?
Luckily, luckily too old for being a firefighter now.
He was a Atemschutzgeräteträger, meaning he carried a Self-contained breathing apparatus, every siren freaked me out.
He might still have the power to do the job, but my heart does not.
I do know we need these people.
I am very thankful we have them.
I will never ever understand how some are willing to give their life to save others and some just take drugs and throw theirs away.
Lion of the day:
Luckily not a fire truck!
And, yes, I know. Some lifes take a bad turn, be it cancer, you loose your child, your partner, a divorce... I am not here to judge, please don´t get me wrong.
I just don´t understand...
As a kid, btw, I slept in a "fire truck", a huge one. It was closet, place to do your homework, store books, stuff and sleep atop.
A crazy world.
It was the "coolest" thing to have and sadly I never found one again.
Bare with me, last time I scetched is ages ago, but maybe you get the idea:
And... I chose it myself as a 5 year old! I think I didn´t associate fire to it, it was just such a practical thing!
And, yes, there certainly was a latter, I just didn´t add it to that,argh... "kid´s drawing"...
And the best: When I was older I had each element by itself!
I mean... what would your friends at age 12...13 say when visiting and you live in a firetruck?!
Very sadly I once painted a plum tree on the wall.
As punishment it stayed.
EMBARASSING!
(In my defense.... I went downstairs to our parent´s shop and asked Mum "may I paint a plum tree?", to which she said yes. Sadly she didn´t ask on what....)
Fire...
What would we do without it, anyways. As long as it´s under control!
As our lives...
20 comments:
Fires scare me, too. I can understand your concern. It must have been hard to see all that. And yes, drugs have their way of showing on your face. Imagine what it does to the body.
Great Lion and a wonderful place to study and read.
"Concern" is a nice word, I guess I screamed and cried, LOL... the word "tantrum" might come closer.
I am glad then, that I only saw the faces. Very, very sad.
The Lion is the town´s emblem :-) And yes, good memories of that "fire truck".
Feur kann Angst machen. Ich bewundere sehr Alle die bei der Feuerwehr oder Rettungsdienste arbeiten. Aber ohne Feuer und Wärme können wir nicht leben. Dir einen schönen Tag, GlG, Valerie
Genau das meinte ich - es macht Angst, ist aber notwendig, das Feuer.
Hier scheint die Sonne, hoffe, bei dir auch - einen schönen Tag, GlG, Iris
I have experienced very closely that someone was addicted to drugs! I understand you completely though you say your heart was broken!
Exactly! Why do people do that?
I forgot ... I am not afraid of fire at all!
Burn baby, burn! 😅 ... and I am not a piroman!
Well, I never see those people, it was just short "hellos".
Doctors set me on Citalopram - it was a kind of drug, too, just without ever feeling funny/happy, side-effects like gagging, freezing, being tired only. But getting away from it (under wrong conditions) was scary (OK, just two days, but two scary days).
Oh, lucky you with the fire! Too many bad memories here! Easter fires, being forced to carry a torch with real fire until I cried... and.so.on. ... And then I end up with a firefighter!
...I'm sorry that fires scares you so!
You now have the "angel of fire" that will always protect you! 👼🏼 :)
Tom, yes, it´s stupid!
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Ella, thank you! x
My previous address, there were neighbours on both sides who were heavy drinkers, drug users, and one of them who was a drug dealer.
Of course I got burned out of that house in October. Fortunately I wasn't at home at the time. I've found a new apartment since and have been sleeping better than I have in two years at the previous place.
That sounds like a bad neighbourhood.
Seems like it was "luck" you got burned out and started anew.
Guess I can call myself lucky with only some stomping from above...
Mirko was wise. Oh, how I wish that wisdom had followed him with his later life choices.
Fire is incredibly frightening and when one has been closely exposed, all the more so. My earliest memory is our house on fire at Christmas. It didn't burn down, just mostly smoke and some other damage but it was terrifying. I'm still bad lighting matches, especially small ones, and almost always use battery candles.
Yes, sad Mirko took a wrong turn...
Oh, that sunds terrifying ideed! All that happened in our house was minor fires (still bad enough).
It is very scary to see something on fire and I admire the job fire fighters do. By the way, love your firehouse design, that is so cool.
I once saw the fire near our house and it was indeed making me so afraid. What if it gets to our house? But good thing the firemen came quickly. Cheers from Bali btw..
Fire is very scary the way it can go from a spark to a raging inferno so quickly, I'm with you there Iris. I feel so very sorry for anyone addicted to any substance, ruins people's lives, and often their families lives too✨
I find it interesting that someone so afraid of fire, married a fireman. I'm not afraid of fire, nor anything else I can think of, but I do worry about bushfires that eat up the countryside and burn houses and towns. It would be a terrible thing to have happen. A lot of our country is ravaged by these fires every summer.
In the flats where I live there used to be only quiet older people, now there are young ones "rescued" from the streets and from violent situations and they drink, smoke and take drugs. Too many times now we see the police cars and sometimes ambulance.
Alexandria, yes, I admire the work, too, but am glad Hubby is out of it.
Thank you the firehouse was sooo cool indeed. So much space!
No idea why you cannot buy that anymore!
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Indah Nuria Savitri, yes, it is frightening, even when under control!
Thanks for stopping by, too.
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Grace yes to both!
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River, well... isn´t it the best to have one right by your side if something happens ;-)
Yes, bushfires are terrible. We once were at Wolfcreek Meteorite Crater when one came really close. It was frightening... Hubby said it´s too far to hurt us. He was right :-)
Well, let´s hope those young blokes in your street don´t set something on fire "for fun" as happens here in Europe...
Just on the day you wrote your post, a young man of 34 died of a drug overdose. He was the son of a friend of mine, an accomplished vet to exotic animals who travelled the world delivering them.
I was in disbelief when I read the facebook post about his death. What a tragedy for the family and a sad end of such a kind and well-educated young man :(
Oh, that is very, very sad, Sami.
I have no more words...
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