Nothing says get to know your neighbors like a 6:20pm fire alarm on a Thursday night. The buzzing sound is loud and then a woman's voice, "Attention in the building, attention in the building" and then she says something about a fire and to exit the building. So, imagine, if you will, Adam is gone (of course!) and the kids and I have just returned home from ballet, trying to get some sort of dinner put on the table. Then it starts. It is so loud it is startling. Rowan immediately starts crying, Rachel and Russell start panicking b/c they actually think there is a fire. I think Rachel was naked b/c she was changing out of her ballet clothes. You can imagine the chaos amongst the 4 of us. Down the stairs we finally go, me holding Rowan and trying to cover his ears, Rachel starts crying because now she is hungry and cold (she is no longer naked, we got her dressed!) and Russ is trying to hurry us down the stairs.
Everyone pours out of the building and the playground is off limits b/c they are replacing the ground cover. Well, that starts another round of tears for Rachel. I find us a curb near some friends and we plop down and wait. I am kicking myself for not grabbing snacks or ipods, anything to entertain and keep the Rs kind of happy? What do you do at that point? People watch of course. You all of sudden know whose kids go to bed earlier than yours b/c they are all in the pajamas. Whose kids do fine in a time of stress b/c they are not crying. In fact Rachel decided she needed to go over and talk to her pal Matthew and tell him why she was crying. She did and came back happy. So, thank you Matthew! You learn who has dogs and who has dogs that don't like other dogs. And you learn that the very smart people take their kids to their car and either hang out there or drive off.
Oh and add to that one broken elevator in your building, leaving only 2 elevators to take all the inhabitants back up to their respective floors. And when one elevator is broken, you pack in. Which leads me to my next up close and personal scenario – broken elevators.
This time imagine all the school children and escorting parents along with people trying to get downstairs to go to work and you are down an elevator or two. You really pack it in. Personal space is not an option. You all groan together as you stop to pick people up on every floor. Yes, even the 1st and 2nd floors. We have faced almost packed elevators where you see a friend's face poking out from the back of the elevator and she says "Pack the kids in, I'll walk them!!" And of course, you do the same for other friends, especially those with strollers for their little ones.
Okay, so one last thing about the fire alarm. Adam had called like six times while we were outside and calls again just as we are getting back into the apt. The alarm is still going off. The firemen have inspected the building and cleared us to return but they can't get the alarm off. Encouraging, I know. And what does Mr. Wonderful have to say while the kids are crying and hungry?? He was calling to share he made it back to Korea from Okinawa and he got bumped to 1st Class and it was so awesome, he wants to fly 1st Class as much as possible, blah blah blah blah blah. That was when I started to cry… just kidding!
My new plan for the fire alarm, which I have shared with my new neighbor – we grab snacks and earphones, we go down the stairs, we go directly to our minivans parked side by side, and we either watch movies in the vans or head to Burger King!!! OPf course now that I am so s-m-r-t we won't get the opportunity ; )
