"A Day I Will Never Forget" by Christina McElyea

August 2001 was a month that will be remembered for many reasons. It was a nice, warm, beautiful day. As the alarm went off, and I pushed the snooze button I thought to myself, “It is beautiful outside, I feel great, and this is going to be a wonderful day.” I got up and walked into my bathroom. I brushed my teeth, fixed my hair, and put on my make-up. Then I came out of the bathroom, went into my bedroom, and put my clothes on.
As I was putting my clothes on, I decided to make breakfast before I woke my son up to start our day. I went into the kitchen and proceeded to make breakfast. The smell of pancakes, bacon, and freshly brewed coffee lingered through the house. I turned around and there was my son. He was up, and I did not even have fight with him to get him up. Oh, it was really going to be a good day! As soon as I laid eyes on him I said, “Good morning sunshine, did you sleep well?” “Yes” he replied while nodding his head.
We went into his room so that I could get him dressed. After I got him dressed, I gave him a hug and a kiss and told him that I loved him. Then we went to the kitchen together so that we could eat breakfast. The food smelt so good that my stomach started growling, and growling, and growling. It was so uncomfortable that I thought my stomach was going to turn inside out. We sat down and ate breakfast, and boy was it delicious!

After breakfast, I decided to finish packing some boxes. We were moving the next day. However, my son said, “That’s no fun, I want to do something fun, and packing is not fun!” I had to think of a good compromise and I had to think of it quickly. We came to the agreement that I would pack a few boxes and then we would go to the arcade. I proceeded to pack a few boxes and the whole time I was packing my son was whining, “Let’s go, I’m bored!” Therefore, I gave in and we got ready to leave. I locked the house up as we were leaving.
We got in the car and off we went to the arcade. On the way to the arcade, we noticed that the clouds were turning black and swirling around. I said to my son, “It looks like a storm is coming.” We decided that we were going to go to the arcade anyway. Sure enough, just as we started to get on the interstate it started to sprinkle. “We can make it.” I thought to myself. Slowly, and very cautiously I drove down the interstate trying to make my way to the arcade. As I passed exit 412, it started raining cats and dogs. I had to pull over on the side of the interstate because I could not see five feet in front of my face. The chill sound of the piercing rain was utterly frightening. I then reassured my son stating that, “It’s okay, it will be over shortly just be patient.” Sure enough about five minutes later the rain stopped and the sun came back out.
We pulled back onto the interstate and continued to make our way to the arcade. While I was driving my son pointed out a beautiful rainbow. “Wow, mom look how pretty it is, look at all the colors!” he said ecstatically. “Yes baby, it sure is beautiful.” I replied. Before I knew it, we were at our exit. The arcade was only two blocks up on the left from the end of the exit ramp.

When we arrived at the arcade my son was so excited, he was like a kid in a candy store. There was so much to do that he was having a hard time figuring out what he was going to do first. He quickly made up his mind, jumping up and down, “Skee-ball, Skee-ball!” he shouted. I went to the coin changer, got him some tokens, and gave the tokens to him. With tokens in hand, he took off running from game to game. He loved it more than a fat kid loves cake. After all the tokens were gone, we decided to grab a bite to eat.
“Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!” my son shouted. Luckily, right across from the arcade was a pizza parlor. We went in and ordered the pizza that we wanted and sat down to wait for it. The pizza came and while we were eating, I told my son, “Mommy needs to drop you off at grandma’s house so that I can finishing packing.” “Okay, can I spend the night?” he said. I replied with, “Yes that will be fine as long as it is okay with your grandma.” I called my mom on my cell phone after we finished eating to make sure that it was okay for me to bring my son over for her to watch. “Gladly, bring him on over.” She said proudly. I told her that I would have to go home to pack his bag and then I would be right over. We left the pizza parlor, got in the car, and drove home.
When we arrived, we went inside so that I could pack him some clothes, snacks, and a few of his favorite toys. After I got everything together, we headed out the door again, on our way to grandma’s house. When we got to my mom’s house, I took him inside and left him in the care of my mother. She knew that I was moving the next day, and I needed to finish preparing for the move. I gave both of them hugs and kisses and left out the door on my way back home.

It had been a wonderful day. My son and I had a blast together, but it was time to go home and complete all of the final details for the move. Even though packing was not my favorite thing to do, I went home and finished packing anyway. As I was packing the last box, I decided that I would go to the new house and hang all the blinds up. The house we were moving to had already been completely remodeled, so hanging the blinds was the only thing that I had left to do before we moved.
As I pulled up at the new house, I glanced at the clock and it was 11:23 P.M. I thought to myself, “Hopefully, this will not take a long time.” I unlocked the door and went inside. I immediately started hanging the blinds with the hope of finishing quickly so that I could go home and get some rest. Two hours and one splinter later, it was done. I had hammered my thumb for the last time. All the blinds were up, and I was ready to go home and get some sleep.
Everything was done, and we were ready to move, or were we? I left the new house hoping to get home and get some rest before I had to get up and start moving the next day. It had been a great day, but my pillow was calling me. I turned onto my street and got a funny feeling in the bottom of my stomach. I shrugged it off and kept on going. I went down the hill, and when I came to the top BAM!!!
I saw lights, bright lights, directed towards something, but I could not tell what they were directed at. What ever it was, it was not good. “Please do not let it be my house.” I kept telling myself. This might sound bad, but I just knew it was a neighbor’s house, but not my house that was the farthest thing from my mind at that moment. The anxiety was killing me. As I got closer, I realized, “Oh My God It Is My House!”

There were about six or seven fire trucks pointing their lights at my house. My house was engulfed in flames. The firemen had to take breaks to catch their breath, and to get water because the fire was so hot. It took the firemen two and a half hours just to put the fire out. What took me a lifetime to collect was gone in less than three hours. All Gone! I was not worried about all of the material things that I had lost. I was sickened from all of the memories that I had lost that night. The house had been in my family for years, and it was handed down to me. My son took his first step at that house. If I could have saved one thing it would have been, all of my pictures. I guess we were not ready to move after all because we ended up not having anything to move. The moral of the story is when you think it is a beautiful day and nothing can go wrong, it does!