Life lessons you don't expect

First off, do I care that John Edwards banged some really plain chick and possibly fathered a child with her? Answer? Not one iota...
I am so tired of the media dictating what we should care about and how we should care about it. If John Edwards wants to bang my entire state it is absolutely none of my business. This wouldn't have even made the nightly news 20 years ago, now it is all that I see. What gets me the most of this whole thing is that his mistress didn't know enough to keep her jibs shut about his wife...I mean go ahead and bang the man just don't trash talk his wife at home, save some face. Keep your mouth shut and give her the respect she deserves if for no other reason that the fact that she is the mother of your lovers children. I think that you can move past cheating, but let me tell you that I can guaranfuckingtee you that if I were Elizabeth Edwards my first move would be to an attorney who made sure that MY children were protected before this lady gets her pocketbook all in a bunch and decides that her daughter is John's and she wants a piece of his pie. Then, you can work on what needs working on.

Last night I learned that I have to listen to that voice inside of me. We had just gone to bed when I heard the neighbors smoke detector going off. This is not a new occurance, she is elderly and sometimes doesn't hear when the batteries are dead. I asked J to check our house, and then he said that it was our neighbors going off so he shut our window and turned on our air conditioner...problem solved. As luck would have it, he needed to turn the fan that sits near our window and he looked out the window and saw across the street that our neighbors house was on fire. Long story short, she is fine but her apartment (three apartment house) is totally gutted and she is in the hospital right now but will be fine.

I KNEW in my gut that something was different about the way the smoke detector sounded. I know that sounds odd, but I felt something even lying in bed so much so that I asked J to check the house twice even though he reassured me that our house is hard wired so that if a detector goes off in the basement or anywhere in the house they all go off. I also knew that she was home...she takes care of her elderly parents (yeah they are like 100) at their house so sometimes she is home and sometimes she isn't..and I heard her dog earlier in the evening yet another indicator that she was home and yet I passed it off as her batteries. I am so ashamed that I didn't follow up on this. I feel like a horrible neighbor and person. I just am so relieved that she is ok and that her dog got out as well.

I think this was my wake up call to listen to that little voice no matter how faint it may sound. That and please take the time to check your smoke detectors and change the batteries. Oh, and hug those kids a little tighter than the night before.