Lessons Learned

As the days get shorter and the sand slides through the hourglass with more urgency we make time to celebrate the holidays with friends and aquaintenances. My sense of urgency is greater than normal since I'll be leaving in early January for four months. Quite often I'll ask now why am I here?

On Oct 31 we were at a small gathering of people that I did not know very well or at all. I'd met one of the artists there through Craigslist. She was looking for a studio since she is now stranded in Richmond at her musician boyfriend's house. She had just completed restoration of a 100 year old Victorian home and studio on the Industrial Canal in NOLA when Katrina hit. We connected right away since she knows many of the same people I know down there and I thought maybe I could help her make her way here until she can move back home.

We were standing around the fire outside and I went inside to get a bowl of soup. I noticed one of the candles on their buffet table seemed much bigger than the others and I walked toward it just as a paper plate caught on fire. Someone had left it too close to the tea candle on the table.
I blew out all the candles after putting out the fire and realized maybe I was there for a reason.

This past Saturday we were invited to a big holiday affair which was also a fund raiser for a community center. My husband knows the hostess and I was curious to see their McMansion on River Road - and it was a good cause - so we decided to collect items to donate and GO. We made the trek west, parked the car and then someone yelled at us to wait so the valet could pick us up. A long white stretch limo pulled up. It was full of trendy young peope illuminated by a wet bar. Ok, I didn't expect that. The limo delivered us and our loot literally across the street. Their home was spacious and full of holiday cheer. You could see the pool from the bar and Christmas trees were reflecting in it. We enjoyed our shrimp and drinks and I sadly noted that million dollar chunk of real estate, full of chic looking people, did not have one piece of art on the walls. Nothing. (now, should I look at this as an opportunity? I wish I could. There were some very, very bad reproductions of decorative painting in the dining room and some Target brand metal work on one wall - but nothing else. Not even family photos. It was like an imcomplete stage set and very strange to people like us. Our home is full of art and book and the detrious of a life well lived. I suppose a hotel decorator would call if clutter...

We finally found the music room with a pianist playing a baby grand (thank the stars!) and hung out there most of the night. At one point I left to refresh our drinks at the bar and I noticed a strange effect in the bathroom...
(Gee, that's an interesting lamp...) No, wait, thats a FIRE. I didn't yell fire, I quickly started putting out a towel on a decorative stand. It had been left too close to, once again, an unattended candle. The flame was maybe two feet high! I started dumping water on it from the sink and another gentleman ran in and started helping me about the time the smoke alarm started going off. We put out the fire and I dragged what was left of the towel into the sink. The man started soaking the wall with water since it was scorched black. I need a whiskey!

No matter now safe a candle may be displayed, its hard to anticipate if a friend or a guest is paying attention. Lesson learned: assume nothing when playing with fire. Its snowing outside. My first inclination is to make a fire, something I'll never take for granted again.