Up in Flames..

(before the lake house was finished)

This is a crazy time. Lindsay is slowly packing up her room and taking loads over to her new condo. This condo is perfect for the Schardts to experience their first year as “one”. I think it’s not as emotionally taxing on me because it’s a slow process. I mean, I have expected her to embark on married life for almost a year now. I’ve known she was going to move out for a year and no longer be my bedmate (most nights). I think it’s a sweet treat that she is just down Greenville Avenue and I can easily go watch a flick with her and her man, my standard, most nights…..when they offer, of course.

We celebrated the life of Lindsay, her relationship with Scott, and the future marriage of the Schardts this weekend at the lake. We were delighted. At night, we had to open the doors to let the cold air in….to stop our sweat from shimmering on our foreheads, from dancing. I’ll spare you the details, as it is most likely only interesting to those who attended…



Anyways, we spent the night at my parents tree house. We call it a tree house because it’s built on stilts, located on a seriously steep hill. There are two parts of the house, joined by the middle, a breeze way located perpendicular to the cove. Into our cove is a one way road in and out. There are no more than ten houses on our block. Coming into our cove by car, you can see two houses on your left when you drive in and then ours is the third. I explain all this, to paint the setting. It’s winter, so the forest of trees are bare, allowing you to see down to the water. The tree house is level with the trees, so looking out the wall of window, that runs across the side of the house, is looking into the trees, with a serious jump to the ground.

We started the shin dig at 3, so we were all crashing by 1230. We each found our little spots to nook and sleep. Kim and Tori stayed up relating at the kitchen table. Lindsay, Julie (Beaner came in town!), and Lindsay’s sister, Lauren slept in the king size bed, on the side of the house with the kitchen and living room.

We found out on Sunday that when Kim and Tori were at the table, Tori was sure she smelled smoke, as from a fire. They sniffed around the kitchen and confirmed that nothing was burning. At about 2:15 they crashed on our side of the house and locked the door behind them.

Around 3 AM, Lindsay woke up to get a glass of water, because she kept coughing. Lindsay said she got up, and as she was walking to the kitchen, saw that the big window, in the master room was bright orange. She pulled the shade and saw that flames were flying past the window and the neighboring house was completely on fire.

This is where the trauma began. She screamed to Julie to get up and that there was a fire. She immediately came over to our door and banged until Laurel got up. Laurel unlocked the door as Lindsay told her the neighbor’s house was blazing. Laurel, in her controlled panic, sternfully told me to get up as there was a fire. I don’t remember hearing the banging on the door or anything else. I remember the noise of scurrying feet down the spiral staircase, that leads up to the loft in our room…as Tori, Melanie and Kim piled down in complete panic. Brit had slept with my phone, as she was texting Paul before bed… and somehow I found my phone and ran to the breezeway, laying my own eyes on the raging fire. There is a house between our house and the flaming house, but the lots are on a steep hill. The house next to ours is about 50 feet away and the one burning is around 400 feet, lower on the hill than the second house. The view was dead on.

I dialed 911 in panic and told them our neighbor’s house was raging fire. I can’t remember what else I said, and not knowing the address, other than our street address, I said they could find it if they just got to Elm Ridge Road. I told them it was HUGE and I had to get everyone out of my house. I realized everyone was running around, possibly screaming, but can’t really remember. I thought, “what do I need to get?” … Immediately I ran back to my bed and got my baby blanket. I have this reoccurring dream, that my parents house would burn down and in the middle of the night I would make sure to get my blanket. Baby blanket? Check. What next, my purse! I grabbed my purse on the other side of the house and my jacket located right next to it. I ran out of the house shoeless and jumped in Zog’s car at the top of the driveway with Zog and Jags already in it. The girls were somehow grabbing their bags and made it into cars.

Everyone was piling into cars, and I felt that I was the last one out, so I didn’t even look around. I just got out. I asked them if everyone was out and they confirmed. I called my parent’s house and thankfully they picked up. I was hyperventilating, shaking, crying, I’d say screaming but just talking in panic telling my dad his new house was about to burn in flames because the neighbor’s house was in flames from top to bottom, left to right, cove to the street.

We exited the driveway and I told Zog if we go left, we would be stuck in the cove, if we go right, that’s our only way out, but we could drive through the fire, as it looked it was taking over the street. We turned right. As we drove by the fire, we shrieked and took in it’s magnitude. This thing was huge. It was four stories, a McMansion as we like to call it. It was a month away from being completed and the wind was in full force. The fire was being blown through the trees, down the cove, and smoke was filling the sky, making it all different shades of scary.

We all pulled over outside of the cove, without sight of the fire and piled into two cars. I talked to my dad off and on as he and my mom jumped in the car to meet us. The firetruck came. One. About ten minutes later, a second. 15 minutes later 2 or 3 more. We live in the country, and it appeared that they weren’t too concerned about our welfare but thanfully Sherman, Texas was providing backup.

I remember telling my dad to call all the neighbors because we couldn’t tell them as the fire was taking over the cove. He said he would. He broke the news to the owner of the McMansion. An hour later, I asked a fireman how it was going and with complete surprise, he said that they had it under control, limited to one house in flames.

I was taken back. I went back and told them, then called my dad. I felt peace that “wow, maybe my parent’s new house wouldn’t be taken down”. Up until that point we were all convinced that we had just left behind everything that wasn’t in our cars and that whole cove was going down.

No. We weren’t being dramatic. Woods thought so when we told her. It wasn’t as if a part of a house was on fire, or there was a forest fire. It was as if 6000 sq foot, 4 story towering house in complete raging fire. Ten feet above the house was flying up with flames and all around it. It lit up everything and the trees were glowing. It was insane. The biggest fire we will probably ever see. And I hope I never see another one.

When my dad got there, we all felt it was okay to head back to the house, as it was “under control”. The girls got their stuff and cleaned the house while I quickly joined my dad and put out flaming parts of our forest, on our property for the next hour. The girls left. Laurel drove back to Norman at 5 in the morning. I didn’t even get to say bye. We were all in shock.

I followed my dad to the neighbor’s house, closest to the fire. I ran around (in chacos) their house looking for a hose. I surprisingly found one immediately and started to hose down their wooden walk way that was spotty of fires. The wind would blow and the smoke would suffocate me and my dad … so I calmly said “I don’t think we are cut out for this job, I think we should stick to our property because I will pass out from the smoke.” He agreed and we headed back. I decided to go in and watch the fire with my mom…As my dad worked with our crazy other neighbor climbing trees and cutting down high branches that were lit.

Sunrise came at 7 am and the place was still on fire. It went out by 8 or 9. The fire trucks stayed all day to make sure no new fires came up. The whole house was gone. The neighbors had a few thousand dollars in damage and a melted Jacuzzi.

I laid on the couch at the lake til noon in shock and exhaustion. That can take more energy out of a person that one person even has. I drove back with my parents. Late last night, my parents called and realized how traumatic the whole event was. The girls and I can’t stop thinking about it and are trying to make sense of what just happened.

My parents were telling me how we saved their house, by being there. Lindsay saved our lives by waking up. If she wouldn’t have woken up, a lot of hearts would be broken (husbands, fiancés, boyfriends, friends, family) as we would all be toast or covered in life-long burns. I just can’t imagine if she wouldn’t have woken up….