Catherine, Dana, Gloria, Jim and Phil’s Rebecca not long ago.
(photo P Volker)
We had a fire in the apartment above mine. A trouble-maker neighbor that put at least 21 others in danger.
Dear Caminoheads,
Well, yes, that just happened. The firemen, police, paramedics, civil guard, were all here, interacting with us all. Fortunately and very luckily, we are all safe, and the damage was limited to the apartment (where we have a tenant that has made our life impossible since March 2020, when he moved in… ) In occasions like this, you realize how much you depend on the kindness of the other, and how much our lives are in the hands of the others. For these dangerous reasons and for the kindest of the reasons.
Some of us, who are always the same 4 or 5, led the evacuation and took care of the priorities. Instinctively, I called my neighbor in the 5th who is 37 weeks pregnant and checked where she was. All of this while my neighbor from the 3rd floor was handing over me his 1 and a half year old baby (who was a champ!!!), meanwhile I was knocking like crazy the door of my 96 years old neighbor, and leading everybody to the door.
After this, I realized that I still remember the instructions: first pregnant women, children and the elderly. And how we can just act instinctively and all we care about is to make sure that we are all safe; it doesn’t help that just some are safe, but how important it is to know that ALL of us are.
As my heart gets back to rhythm, my phone has been ringing and I have been writing too, everybody thanking for the courage, the help, the kindness, the “togethernessing”, the neighbor spirit. Definitely, we don’t need situations like this to realize that we live in community and that we need the others, but these situations make you realize that no man is an island, and that none of us would survive in our own. And the other thing is: how good one feels when we have been able to help the others.
Off to a shower, pajamas and hot tea. TG(tomorrow)IF!!!!
Would you be my neighbor? Loves,
Cris
Hopefully the landlord or local council will evict the trouble maker now.I had a troublesome neighbour once who was a dangerous combination of an alcoholic and a smoker.Once he set a chair on fire and the other time knocked a sink over bursting the water pipes.Luckily my dad had been a plumber and I knew how to turn the water off at the mains but it did a lot of damage shorting out the electrical system too!I think,well last I heard, that the alcohol and tobacco had caught up with the gentleman in question and he went blind which sounds like something to do with diabetes guessing type 2?They don’t care if they burn a house down killing everyone else or electrocute people.In this country you can get them evicted even if they own the property but it takes a long time and involves the police, social workers, doctors and the county court.
Thanks for sharing that, Cris. Ouch. Univited high-drama is a challenge, always. Bringing the heart rate down and bringing the heart to the fore is a process that’s a little different for everybody in my experience. You “dun good” and were a light in ther darkeness for many, I’m sure.
Your life seems, from an arm’s length and only via the blog, to have lots going on, all the time. An active and curious mind with the native intelligence and energy to ‘run with it’ and an authentic wish to explore and expasnd a spiritual awareness seems to describe the Cris I am aware of.
Admirable. Stick with it.
But I wonder, since Phil said you “are trying to move to Spain”, if that is still in-process? We’d have more time-difference to deal with, and you’d surely need a Caminohead termporary blog stand-in when it comes to pass, but your contribution here has taken hold, rooted into the Caminosphere and delightful to look forward to every day. So, let us know how your plans are progressing so that you might find support FROM here, as you’ve brought support TO here, the Caminosphere.
Wow! Good work Cris and neighbors. I am glad that the damage was limited to the one apartment and didn’t create a situation where you all had to find a new place to stay.
Get-out loves,
Ronaldo
Wow! So happy you and your neighbors are OK and for your great instincts! So much shared in your writing here, thanks for all there is to ponder and be thankful for and again, glad you are all safe and that damage is limited. I just bet that tenant will now have to leave!
Oh Cris, the situation sounds harrowing. We all know how it is though, in an emergency we just act, there is no time to really think. It’s only afterwards when the adrenaline has run its course that we realize how close we or someone else came to… whatever the danger and the trembling begins through out the body, our still feral selves shedding the experience from muscles and cells, sometimes crying helps, others laughing, yawning… it’s all just trying to move the experience through. Then a hot cup of tea and sleep – definitely a healing balm. Still all in all, you were brave, but powering beneath that was your caring for your neighbors, your concern for the most vulnerable, would I like to be your neighbor? You betcha, 100x over! Bless you, and glad it all turned out ok.
So much in contrast to the Simon and Garfunkel song “I am a Rock” claiming “I am an Island!” I loved the tune but KNEW this was soooo much contrary to what my heart KNEW. I had to go back and listen today. Life is a tapestry and each encounter is a thread in mine. Phil‼️ Felipé you are a wonderful thread in mine. Guiding how I choose to live my days, hours, moments. We all only get a certain numbered days. I’m so blessed that our paths crossed. NO we are NOT an Island. So glad I have memories of YOU in my tapestry.
Bonnie ~ so glad to be with you so! Felipé.x
Dear Cris:
As if there isn’t enough going on in your world! But all the things you mentioned must also be the reasons you are such a good pilgrim and doctor too!
I am glad you are ok and so are your neighbors. Just like the Camino is a human tapestry of people coming into and out of lives, sometimes with frequency and sometimes not, our neighbors are like that. Sometimes we see them only briefly, other times for longer periods. Even when we don’t physically see them all the time we know they are there somewhere and most likely be ready and willing to lend a hand should we need it!
Much Love and missing you dear pilgrim!
Carol