Born Of Fire
by
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A few pages from the book... THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE November 15, 2001 It was close to 12:00 noon as I drove my white Blazer along the curb to park in front of our house in a quiet neighborhood. My attention was caught by a screaming noise that came from somewhere. That didn’t make any sense. For a moment, I was stunned. All of a sudden I realized that the noise was from our smoke detectors and smoke is rising from behind our house. Something was very wrong. Running up to the front door, my heart is pounding. I opened the front door and it felt like eternity stopped. Everything in my house was engulfed in black. There was not one speck of light in the whole house. Total blackness!!! It was thick and threatening. Many things went through my mind: Was this real? Could I run through the house to save my birds? I couldn’t see a thing! The smell of smoke was overpowering. It was pitch black. I desperately searched for an answer. There was none. What is happening? I need to get my birds; they are in the back of the house. What can I do? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I almost passed out and could not go deeper into the thick smoke. Helplessly, I closed the door. Running out to the front of the house, I saw two ladies walking along on the other side of the street. I shouted, “Call 911—my house is on fire!!!” They must have thought I was a lunatic the way they looked at me. I got no response. When I didn’t get a reaction, I ran frantically to my neighbor’s house. Almost breaking the door in, I called, “Karen! KAREN! CALL 911, MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE!”
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About the Book
About the book... After the fire, our attorney suggested that I might want to keep a journal, and I did. This was a great idea. Not only did this relatively simple task make it easier for me to remember what happened and when it happened, but it also made it easier to deal with the situations that sprung up. Later I played with the idea of converting this into a book. Our challenges seen through our eyes. This journal shows the path we took to deal with the insurance companies, we had two insurance companies to haggle with. Some of the the legal hurdles that were thrown into our path and, at the same time, some of the life situations that we had to face. We were dealing with the extremely hard West Nile Virus, creating a new life, and the aftermath of hurricane Jeanne.
About the Author
About the Author... Irmelin was born in Czechoslovakia, evacuated to Munich with her mother and eventually moved to the United States in 7th grade. After high school, she spent four years getting a graphic arts degree from an Art School in Munich, Germany. She worked and traveled in close contact with the Art Academy in Vienna and with art students from Paris. The cultural exchange was stimulating. After working in a few art departments she started producing four large pen-and-ink posters, the “Tree of Life,” “She,” the “Family,” and the “Mushroom People.” They were popular and reprinted several times. She moved to Boulder and produced a limited edition of Zodiac pen and ink prints that sold out. There where several more pen and ink drawings. Irmelin was always drawing or painting, teaching art to adults and children or volunteering in local schools. She helped create the Lafayette Cultural Arts Commission and started the Lafayette Art Center. Irmelin and her husband Don raised three children. Starting Mountain Studios was a life long dream. After the fire everything changed.