We are having a much quieter Hanuka this year than in 2001. Here is the story of our Hanuka miracle, from my journal at that time. It also reminds me of the "daily miracles" taken for granted; that we are here, healthy and safe, that my parents (and other family and friends) are too, and so much more. It seems sometimes that only a brush with disaster can show me just how much I have to be grateful for. Happy Holidays to all!
12/20/01 Brian wrote: For the past week we have been trying to recover from the horrifying event last Friday night (12/14, the sixth night of Hanuka). LK and I were in our "cozy room" in front of a fire in the wood stove. I happened to look up from my book and noticed what looked to be snowflakes blowing horizontally outside our window. We quickly realized it was sparks in the steady ferocious wind. We ran to the back door to see what was causing the sparks. The wood pile next to the back door was engulfed in flames. I remember crying "My God!" as I ran to get the rubber boots, gloves and a fire extinguisher. I ran out and emptied the extinguisher into the fire with almost no result. The wind was howling as flames were wildly flying over my head and under the first story eaves of the house.
LK had run to the shed in the dark, grabbed the fire hose and was trying to attach it to the spigot in the dog run, in pitch blackness. I ran to my studio to get another fire extinguisher which I emptied into the fire, also with no result. There was too much burning. I could barely see LK through the clouds of smoke as she tried to pour water from the hose on the fire. I ran to the shed and grabbed a shovel and began to push over the wood pile, now consumed in a raging fire. This was not working. I rushed to get a hoe and began to pull burning logs away from the center of the fire onto the gravel driveway and away from the house, which is the direction the wind was blowing, straight up from the Potomac. LK could not see me a few feet away and thought I might be on fire.
After about ten minutes we had brought it under control. Ashes in a metal bucket from the night before had been revived by the wind and sucked out of a crack in the top. A few more minutes and we would have lost everything. Every calm day is a blessing.
LK added: I consider this a real Hanuka miracle. The sixth night of Hanuka will always have a different meaning for me now. I don't think I have bee this frightened since the terror bombings in Israel in '96. I still don't remember how I got into the shed. I ran past Brian and the fire (he had put himself between the fire and the back wall of the house, and as I learned later was emptying fire extinguisher into the wood pile; I could hear him after that, but couldn't see him, only flames). I don't remember how I found the hose, or anything else except that I just kept praying GD would help me do this. The first end of the hose I grabbed was not the right one, so I had to try again. I don't think I could think at all, just act. Hours later, when I recalled the sequence of events, all I could remember was getting the wrong end of the hose first and hoping Brian wasn't burning up while I got the hose coupled. We both were out for hours in a fierce cold wind, continuing to water the woodpile, the scattered, burned logs, and the entire back driveway. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep that night, as we were too aware that if even one spark had been missed by either of us, the fire would start up again in the high winds. In the morning I could see how close we had really come to disaster. The entire back driveway was littered with burnt logs of all sizes, many almost burned through. The house itself had not even one speck of soot!
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