Malpractice Insurance Costs Too Much, Anyway

Last night we had to evacuate our building due to fire (someone one floor up and across the hall left the stove on [with pots and pans a-cookin'] while he "ran out" to get a few missing ingredients. Brilliant.). The sprinklers awoke and flooded the building from the fifth floor all the way to the ground floor.

Brodie was out at the time, and so Portia and Margot and I headed down the stairs and outside with the other residents of the building. Most people gathered on the sidewalk, but we were allowed to wait in the lobby, too. [Sidenote - I wonder what the offender thought when he came back up the street and saw all the building's residents outside and two 'hook and ladders' flashing in the street.] It was very stressful for Margot, although she did get to see her friend Kara in the lobby; the girls played together while we all waited several hours before we could return to our apartment. Fortunately, our apartment did not sustain any fire or water damage. Others, particularly those on the other side of the hall from us, were not so lucky.

But, stress and fear aside, the experience provided Margot with a new career goal. "I want to be a firefighter when I grow up," Margot declared, after we returned to our apartment. She'd been able to watch the firefighters in action as they carried their equipment through the lobby and up the stairs. "A firefighter?" Brodie asked. "I thought you wanted to be a doctor." That had been her previous calling. "No," said Margot assuredly. "I want to be a firefighter."

Hmmm...maybe we should get her a fire truck for Christmas.