A mother nose.

When I was young(er) I spent most of the time not noticing the little things (or the big things for that matter). It seems that in our young lives, most of what happens to us occurs in a vaccuum, or so it would seem to us at the time.

As most mothers know, strange things start to occur when we become pregnant. Our senses are heightened as our hearts and bellies grow. I remember being able to taste the mustard on a hamburger and hating it. Both of which hadn't occured before. This super-mom ability remains after pregnancy. My mom claims it never goes away as she has lay awake many-a-night with worry for her children and grandchildren. I know that I haven't slept a sound night in 15 years, always at the ready for my boys.

My sister now has these super-hero abilities too. For she can smell the faintest bit of smoke from across the house. While sleeping. Before the smoke alarms.

A small fire that started in the front of the house (cause still unknown) turns into a very large fire and causes this much damage.

This is my nephews room. It suffered the most damage.

At 2:00 AM on Wednesday morning, Charlie was sleeping here.

At 6:00 AM, it looked like this.

Thank you, Charlie, for turning your mom into a super-mom so she could save you and your dad (and herself).

Thank you, Missy for just being a mom.

Kiss your kids tonight, everyone. If you don't have kids, call your mom.

Heaps of love.

J