Simply Amazing

I was invited to a Cajun party in East Point tonight. The party is an annual event-- hosted by my friend's John & Randy. I had a hard time parking because their street was filled with fire trucks and ambulences-- never a good sign. I finally parked my car and walked through the road block, towards the party. Then I saw it-- the home of my friend, Mike Baker (two doors down from John and Randy's house) was on fire. Huge flames reached towards the sky. Some firefighters were spraying the house with water-- other were breaking all of the windows and doors out for ventilation. The cajun party had moved out into the street - drinks and plates in hand. The crowd stood around and watched for hours, but unable to help and really unable to speak about the terrible thing they were all witnessing. Mike was out of town at the time of the fire, but the last I heard he was notified and was enroute back home. After the fire was out, I talked to a friend that was allowed to go inside and see the damage. She said that there was very little inside that could be salvaged- a total loss. Mike is a collector-- pottery, antiques, etc. He had one room that contained hundreds of antique quilts. All gone now. But, at least no one (including the dog) were home during the fire, so no one was hurt and that's a blessing. The fire was contained and didn't spread to the trees or the neighboring homes-- another blessing.

But the biggest blessing occurred next. Several people left the party while the fire was active. They went to Lowe's and bought truckloads of plywood. When the fire was put out, they went to work-- they were cutting plywood to fit all of the broken windows in the home-- boarding the place up. They had saws and tape measures and ladders- a real make-shift construction crew (and a pretty well dressed crew it was- still wearing their party clothes!). Neighbors helping a neighbor in their time of need- it was a beautiful thing to witness.