Your luck has been completely changed today.

Last week was hectic, to say the least.  I got out of bed everyday at 5:00 a.m. and was already in my office by 6:00 a.m. supporting work with folks out of Japan.  It might not be a big deal if after putting in my 9 usual daily work hours I could just head home and chill, but the work I was doing kept me busy for almost 12 hours every day instead.  Add to it the typical 90 minutes total commute and you can easily figure out why splitting the remaining 10.5 hours between getting any rest and getting anything done around the house just aren't really enough.  Still, I'm not complaining because in today's economy having a good job is like having a vault full of gold in my life.  Still though, by the end of the week I was pretty much exhausted and ready to finally get some well deserved rest over the weekend.  Being such a hectic week at work also meant eating lunch in the office everyday in order to not get backed up with my job.  On Monday I had driven out to buy Chinese takeout and brought in to eat at my desk.  One thing led to another and I never did get to my fortune cookie.  Actually, it was not until Friday when I realized that in order to get out of work at a reasonable hour I was going to have to skip lunch all together, and as I scanned my office space I ran into the forgotten fortune telling treat.  I split open the plastic bag labeled "Gourmet Fortune Cookie" followed by six Chinese language characters, which I can only assume read "Eat at your own risk."  As I cracked the cookie the white strip of paper inside ripped in half.  I straightened out the two pieces and they read "Your luck has been completely changed today."  Instantly I laughed and pondered at the vagueness of the statement, which never actually defined if my luck had changed for better or for worse.  I also considered mentally that if I were a superstitious person, which I am not, maybe the tearing of the paper containing my written fortune probably meant that I had just cancelled my chances of good fortune accidentally.  I stashed the now two pieces of paper along with the rest that I keep under a huge desk size calendar for future amusement and proceeded to consume the dry fortune cookie that even though it proclaims to be of Chinese origin, actually comes from a factory in National City, Illinois.  I drank a few gulps of bottled water to ensure an expansion effect in my stomach would take place to carry me through the next few hours of work.

"BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...WAAA...WAAA...WAAA...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP..." the piercing loud sound of several smoke detectors and the fire alarm woke me up at exactly 5:27 a.m. Saturday morning.  Dazed I instantly jumped out of bed searching for clothes to put on while the exaggerated wake-up call filled the air mixed with the obvious smell of something burning close by.  As I walked out of my bedroom my youngest son walked right behind me querying why and what was going on.  I went into the kitchen thinking that maybe my oldest son had forgotten to turn off the stove or oven after cooking himself something the night before, but nothing was out of the ordinary.  My oldest son was sound asleep on one of the couches in the family room wearing headphones hooked up to his iPod.  As I walked over to him and told him that something was burning close by the room kept filling up with more smoke.  When I opened the access door to the garage from the dining room a curtain of smoke hit me in the face which did not allow me to see any more than one inch in front of me, the fire was obviously coming from inside the garage.  In hopes that I could get my car out of the garage I pressed open the huge metal rolling door and ran to my room to get the car keys.  Before I went out the front door it occurred to me to make sure my oldest son was out of the family room, but no such luck, he had fallen asleep again.  This time I shook him and told him "dude, the house is on fire, put on some shoes and get out now!"  This time he followed me and my other son out.  Enough smoke had cleared out of the garage for me to be able to see my car and I held my breath, rushed in, and drove it out quickly on to the opposite side of the street knowing that the firemen would need access.  When I got back one of the neighbors yelled over the piercing sound of the fire alarm that she had already called for 911 for help.  I dragged out my front yard garden hose, turned the water full blast, and one last time held my breath and went inside to add some water to the now obvious source of the fire, the water heater.  The fire had already consumed the 18 inch platform that originally sustained the water heater off the ground, and its weight had made it drop breaking the water pipes above which created a spectacular forward shower effect which probably contributed to my car not burning to a crisp.  I sprayed as much water on the now fire covered wall behind the water heater, but once I ran out of air I knew better to get out and not breath any unnecessary smoke.  As I got out of the smoked filled garage I went back to the garden hose water faucet, closed it, and went back next to my kids shivering from my now wet clothes in the cold morning air.  Five minutes later the street was covered with two patrol cars, four fire trucks, and over a dozen firemen trying to get a handle on the situation inside my home.

Three hours after it had all began everyone was gone and all that was left was a burned wall and water heater, and a pile of debris that the firemen had kindly made in front of my home.  As I stood in front of my home I suddenly remembered the message on that broken fortune cookie "Your luck has been completely changed today."  Interestingly I have decided that even though such a dramatic moment could be interpreted as a sign of bad luck, I honestly believe that I was blessed.  The entire week before this event I had been out of the house so early that chances are that I would of not been home to make sure my kids were safe.  As I look from the inside of my dining room area I can clearly see the charred fire line on the wall where the flames never breached from the other side by the narrow thickness of a coat of paint.  Exactly on the other side of the dark line and only one inch away are curtains, which would surely gone up in flames instantly had the fire consumed that single coat of paint.  Of course I am looking at all of this from the half full side of the cup, but truthfully, how else would I want to look at it and not expect to get totally depressed?  In my heart I feel blessed because I can clearly see that so many of the challenges in my life are actually stepping stones for me to grow.  Everyday that I am allowed to breath another day is proof that my job here is not done, and the same goes for my kids.  There must be something great in the future of my sons for them to still be here with me today.  After all, things can always be worse, much, much worse!  That is how I know that my sons and I are blessed.

Dad