On Saturday evening, as I came upstairs from starting a load of laundry, Patrick met me at the top of the steps saying, “I am scared to death. I am scared to death of the kitchen.” I responded, “There is nothing to be scared of in the kitchen. Come with me and I will show you.” As we entered the kitchen, I smelled something burning and I noticed that I had failed to turn the rice down when I covered it. I proceeded to turn it down, commenting, “See there’s nothing to be scared of.” Patrick quickly replied, “I am scared of what’s under the sink.” I stated, “Oh is there a spider under there. I once saw a spider in the garbage can.” He promptly responded, “No, I’m scared of the fire in the garbage can.”

Without thinking, I opened the kitchen cupboard, saw flames coming up out of the garbage can, and pulled the can out from under the sink. Bernadette quickly took the baby from my arms and I proceeded to pour pots of water on the fire. My husband came upstairs and took the smoldering garbage outside. One side of our can was melted and a lot of the garbage was either melted or burned.

How did it happen? Patrick had accidentally touched a paper towel to the stove top, causing it to catch on fire. Terrified, he threw the burning paper towel in the garbage and was surprised to find that it caused everything else to start burning. I am so thankful that my little boy did not burn himself, that I was coming upstairs, that Patrick told me there was a fire, and that garbage was the only thing to burn.

AMEN.