WHERE THERE IS SMOKE...THERE IS NOT ALWAYS FIRE

As with others, my poetry is just that-my poetry, whether worthy or not.  However, the blog post is an actual account of several mornings ago

Smoke sent animals scurrying
But I decided to stay
Someone would need help
Before the end of this day.

When I tripped and fell,
On my back I lay
I heard a crackling sound
Then saw it tumbling my way

A huge burnt-out Redwood came
Crashing like out of hell!
Somehow I rolled out of its path,
But from then, all was pell-mell.

I got up, ran, fell again.
If only some water, maybe a well?
Linger--read a little longer
Of the story I have to tell.....

WHERE THERE IS SMOKE, 
THERE IS....

 "We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us."

--One of the "Promises" listed in our Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, p 84

This past Wednesday I woke up to the usual pre-dawn darkness of 5 AM to read some of the Peeps, comment a little, go to 7 AM meeting, etc.   I sat down at my "desk-computer" B.C. (before coffee!) and something seemed different.  

It was a sweet and smoky smell, like a Redwood-Charcoal fire.  Outside I smelled nothing--the natives were neither drunk nor restless, nor burning down their houses. 

OMG!  It was in my own house, this smell--which suddenly had changed from pleasant to unpleasant.  I stopped to ask God, "What next?" Don't know if He answered or not, but I decided to first locate the source, next, call the Fire Department (Caps on purpose), and awaken PG and her daughter.  

I knew there might be little time, so during these side-by-side moments, I was making a mental list of what to grab on the way out, on our hurried way to safety.

Each would make their own decision here, for me it was "computer, medicine,violin, and a pair of shoes".  As I discovered no fire in the house, I hurriedly erected a ladder to check out the attic. All this took less thank a minute of time. Attic provided no evidence.  Nothing!

At once a senior moment happened--I decided to "step back" and have a cup of coffee.  What?  What now?  

Only a few days before, we had bought this exotic coffee (not espresso--grin!), really sweet in flavor, and, well, special.  It was SO special it smelled like a house afire to me!!!  (A tiny bit had spilled onto the hot plate.)

So my false-alarm "fire" was the product of a crushed and cooked bean from South America!   Thank God. 

The "magic" of this episodic quarter-hour, the miracle here, was that I did not panic, nor even stressed, nor rushed.  I  just took one step at a time, to "get it right" the first time, or there would BE no time. 

Being without panic, in a do-or-die situation is not my "normal" but merely what I work to achieve, and it seems to BE working.

And so, I'll stay sober today again.
I'll be at peace today--again.
I'll harbor NO resentments--again today.
And I will show someone LOVE today--again!

Picture:  DEVIANT ART: House_Fire_by_alyssahsadie.jpg