FIRE!!!!

We live on the 19th floor of this skyrise in Pitsburgh, which is the third floor from the top. This morning at 2:30 the fire alarm went off. Now I don't know if there is away to discribe the sheer awfulness of the sound the fire alarm makes. Think of the a high pitch buzz at the loundest desible possible. The noise resinates from the hall so you have to pass through a gauntlet of ear piercing defeness before you can get into the stairwell. However, the stairwell isn't a sure escape because the pitch, although less loud, is still loud all the way down 19 flights of stairs.

At around 2:28 Sierra was complaining that her eyelids were glued shut again from duct butter drying over her lashes. I went to warm a wash cloth in the bathroom when the sound, oh the awful sound filled the apartment. Sierra grabbed the covers and pulled them over her head. I washed off her eyelids and then called my neighbor, Shandra.

I said, "Shandra are you going down?"

She said, "Well, I can smell smoke in the hall, so we are going to leave. What do you think?"

I know what your thinking, "GET OUT OF THE BUILDING. STOP CHATTING!" However, the alarm has gone off twice since we moved in and after you go down 19 flights of stairs and wait outside only to be told someone burnt popcorn on the 5th floor, or someone's blowdryer blew up on the 10th floor, you start to question whether endangering your childs hearing and lumbering down 19 flights of stairs at 2:30 in the morning is worth it.

I decided to wake up Nate and tell him what was going on. The decision was made to exit. I threw on pink sweat pants and a blue sweat shirt and slipped on the nearest shoes available. I threw on Sierra's coat, pants, and a hat. I picked up Madison and threw two blankets over her head and we headed toward the door of the apartment. The noise of the alarm in the hall is muffled by the walls of the apartment so the noise hits you in all its furry when the door to the apartment is opened. The minute I opened the door Sierra ran back toward her bedroom. I yelled, "Sierra come here now." She walked back toward me. I said, "Hold my hand. You have to be brave." I took her hand with one hand and Madison in the other and got in the stairwell. Nate wasn't far behind. He picked up Sierra and carried her down the stairs. When we got out of the building her little friends Jennifer and Brooklynn were there huddled in there coats and PJ's. She ran up to them and said, "I was scared but then Daddy picked me up and then I wasn't scared anymore." I was so touched by her words. Just now remembering her word makes me ponder on how many times I have been scared and someone has picked me up with a kind word or a helping hand and then I haven't been scared anymore.

The fire wasn't anything serious, again. The firemen cleared the building and let us back in and we climbed back up 19 flights of stairs, because we were too impatient to wait for the elevator. Madison, the sweet angel, slept through the whole thing. Soon enough we were all warm, safe and back in our own beds.