If I live to be 100, I will never forget that Valentine's day:heart: I was young, I was in love, and I was happier than I'd ever been. Her name was Julie. She was my high school sweetheart; the girl next door.
I'd planned on proposing that day. As I did every year, I'd been preparing valentines dinner all day long. I had a rack of lamb in the oven, a really rich polenta on the stove, and a pot of salted water at a rolling boil for my orzo salad.
I had just finished a fine chiffonade on the fresh mint leaves I'd picked from the garden that morning when my Droid rang. My hands still slick with a bit of imported Olive oil I'd used in my sherry vinigarette, the phone slipped out of my hand. It banged against the stove, then fell to the floor. Knowing that it lacked any protection whatsoever, I lunged for it. This...this was the moment that changed everything. As I reached for my droid, my side towel slipped off of my shoulder and into the burner. Had I not tried to save my phone, had I purchased some sort of protective case, heck, had I just not used the same side towel after doing the Oil rub on that rack of lamb, maybe it wouldn't have caught.
But caught fire it did. Instantly. I flung the towel toward the sink to try to keep the fire from spreading, but having lunged for my phone and having banged my head as I stood back up, my aim was off. You'd be amazed how quickly the fire spread from the towel to the curtains. After they caught, there was no hope. Still dazed from banging my head, I was unable to locate the fire extinguisher. Instead I ended up rummaging in the broom closet for too long. The structure was alight now, and the room was filling up with smoke. I had to save 2 things, the ring I was going to give to Julie, and my droid.
I rushed to the bedroom and snatched the ring out from under my bed. As I ran back to the kitchen, it was completely filled with smoke. Coughing, choking I hit the ground. Searching blindly for my droid, the smoke overcame me and I blacked out.
The red lights of the fire truck shined on the house as the flames engulfed it. The kind, soot covered face of the man standing over me was clean only where tears streaked down his cheeks.
"What...what is it?" I croaked.
"Its Julie, son. She went back in for your droid. She knew how much you loved that phone."
"Knew? What do you mean. WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"
"The roof collapsed just as she went in, son. I'm sorry. So terribly sorry."
Everything went numb as I clutched the velvet covered ring box in my hand. If only I'd had a protective cover on my droid.