Thursday, July 27, 2006

Beth's house, July 27 2006

When you have kids, the world becomes a Disneyland of peril.

This is hardly an original observation - I challenge anyone to come up with an original observation that is prefaced, "When you have kids..."

Improperly installed carseats, West Nile mosquitos, loose boards on the porch steps, poisonous plants, dogs - all these things can spin visions of woe and hospital visits.

But this:


Beth's house, July 27 2006
Originally uploaded by pwilnyc.


... this is what my cousin Beth, her husband, and their two-month-old baby boy narrowly missed the other night. They were on vacation at the beach, asleep, hours away from their home, when, at 3am this Wednesday, a fire broke out in their garden, spread to the deck, ignited a propane tank, and engulfed both floors of their house in flame. I'm told it's even worse inside.

When we stopped by to survey the damage this afternoon, I went weak in the knees. I'm shaking now. If I had seen the charred crib, I might have lost it entirely.

Check your smoke detectors and move the grill away from the house.


Cousin Beth and beautiful baby cousin on July 4th. They are safe and well, but tireder now.

5 comments:

  1. Wow! That sucks, but thankfully no one was home or hurt. This is, after all, what insurance is for. Is the house salvageable, or is your cousin Beth in the market again?

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  2. Allstate will pay for the rebuild; they estimate it will be habitable again in May.
    Meanwhile, Beth's husband's old house hasn't been sold yet and they will be staying there.
    They only bought this house a couple months ago.

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  3. I'm so sorry to hear that. Does she need anything that we can help with (baby stuff, clothes, etc)?

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  4. Thanks, gretchen. They lost almost everything, but they have gotten so many hand me downs that the baby is set til he's 4!
    And they're already getting insurance checks. Anything they need, they're buying and having delivered.
    My advice to them was to throw money at anything that gets in their way. The money will come back later - it's their peace of mind that is in short supply.

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