Spring is a time of travel for my family. At least it is for the kids and I. Alexander must stay at home with his nose to the old grindstone so that he can earn enough money for the rest of us to travel. I know this sounds like an arrangement in which he gets the short end of the stick but his side has its advantages, such as three quiet days which involve evenings devoted to his own leisure. On the other end of the deal, my end, is debate season. Being a debate mom has its rewards but with the commitment comes traveling out of town to various debate tournaments throughout the state and, I will point out, California is a large state.
As I've mentioned before, I am a creature of habit and as such creatures are want to do I always stay, if possible, in the same hotel in each city. Not liking to travel, I always choose the same name brand of lodging so I can be in surroundings that are somewhat familiar and pretend that I'm not really traveling at all. The hotels I stay in are both budget friendly and quiet, a winning combination. However, into our second season of travel we experienced our first peace-breaking incident.
In the latest hours of a March night, just before the wee hours of the morning, we were awakened by an alarm. I knew immediately that this horrible blaring sound, accompanied by a flashing blue light in our room, was a fire alarm. When one of the kids asked why the alarm clock was going off at 2:30AM I realized that homeshchoolers do not get the enjoyment of the occasional fire drill complete with alarms and instructions on leaving the school calmly. My first thought after waking was, "I hope this is a false alarm because I'm too tired to run for my life." My next thought was, "We're on the second floor, which way is the stairway?" followed by, "I wish I had paid attention to the emergency exit map posted inside our room door."
I could hear the stomping of feet as other guest were awakened and thought I heard people running. At this time, because I was still hoping this was a false alarm, I looked out the peep hole in the door and couldn't see anybody running, or smoke billowing, or flames emerging menacingly from door ways. Thus far into the incident I had no reason to be motivated by panic. Within a minute the alarm had stopped and this boosted my hope that there was no danger after all. I then went to the window to see if there were any signs of fire outside the building. Nothing. Within the next minute, however, I could see reflected in the windows of the building across the street red and blue flashing lights which I hoped were not for us as they implied a serious situation. In a moment a firetruck came into view and turned into the hotel driveway. I watched until the firemen who walked into the lobby were out of view. As I lay back down in bed I gave instructions to young Alexandra to stay in the window and keep watch. If the firemen walked back to the truck and drove away we could all go back to sleep; but, if they ran back to the truck for hoses we would have to put our shoes on. Another minute passed and the firemen drove away, leaving us to what remained of our night's sleep.
In the morning, as we passed through the hotel lobby on our way to meet our day, I inquired with the lady behind the front desk about the night's excitement and was told that a hotel guest was smoking in a non-smoking room. Really, now that's a sensitive alarm. She was very apologetic and I said something about it being quite all right and off we went, glad that the fire alarm had been a false alarm. Those really are the best kinds of alarms I feel.
It seems every time I turn on the news I hear alarms of some kind: looming financial disaster, trouble in the middle east, future famine. These are troubled times we live in; I doubt anyone would disagree. Unfortunately I have failed to notice any fire escapes or even signs telling me where to find an escape. I can hope that, like the hotel alarm, the alarms sounded in the nightly news are also false. They probably aren't but they can test our hearts and show where we have placed our hope, whether it is in man or in God.
As I've mentioned before, I am a creature of habit and as such creatures are want to do I always stay, if possible, in the same hotel in each city. Not liking to travel, I always choose the same name brand of lodging so I can be in surroundings that are somewhat familiar and pretend that I'm not really traveling at all. The hotels I stay in are both budget friendly and quiet, a winning combination. However, into our second season of travel we experienced our first peace-breaking incident.
In the latest hours of a March night, just before the wee hours of the morning, we were awakened by an alarm. I knew immediately that this horrible blaring sound, accompanied by a flashing blue light in our room, was a fire alarm. When one of the kids asked why the alarm clock was going off at 2:30AM I realized that homeshchoolers do not get the enjoyment of the occasional fire drill complete with alarms and instructions on leaving the school calmly. My first thought after waking was, "I hope this is a false alarm because I'm too tired to run for my life." My next thought was, "We're on the second floor, which way is the stairway?" followed by, "I wish I had paid attention to the emergency exit map posted inside our room door."
I could hear the stomping of feet as other guest were awakened and thought I heard people running. At this time, because I was still hoping this was a false alarm, I looked out the peep hole in the door and couldn't see anybody running, or smoke billowing, or flames emerging menacingly from door ways. Thus far into the incident I had no reason to be motivated by panic. Within a minute the alarm had stopped and this boosted my hope that there was no danger after all. I then went to the window to see if there were any signs of fire outside the building. Nothing. Within the next minute, however, I could see reflected in the windows of the building across the street red and blue flashing lights which I hoped were not for us as they implied a serious situation. In a moment a firetruck came into view and turned into the hotel driveway. I watched until the firemen who walked into the lobby were out of view. As I lay back down in bed I gave instructions to young Alexandra to stay in the window and keep watch. If the firemen walked back to the truck and drove away we could all go back to sleep; but, if they ran back to the truck for hoses we would have to put our shoes on. Another minute passed and the firemen drove away, leaving us to what remained of our night's sleep.
In the morning, as we passed through the hotel lobby on our way to meet our day, I inquired with the lady behind the front desk about the night's excitement and was told that a hotel guest was smoking in a non-smoking room. Really, now that's a sensitive alarm. She was very apologetic and I said something about it being quite all right and off we went, glad that the fire alarm had been a false alarm. Those really are the best kinds of alarms I feel.
It seems every time I turn on the news I hear alarms of some kind: looming financial disaster, trouble in the middle east, future famine. These are troubled times we live in; I doubt anyone would disagree. Unfortunately I have failed to notice any fire escapes or even signs telling me where to find an escape. I can hope that, like the hotel alarm, the alarms sounded in the nightly news are also false. They probably aren't but they can test our hearts and show where we have placed our hope, whether it is in man or in God.
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