Smoke Screen

This morning I awoke smelling smoke. wood fire smoke.

courtesy of weheartit.com

Fear, the visceral response, came first, as I was trying to locate the source of the smell. Stronger with windows open, no smoke in the hallway, ok, so it’s not here. This was at 5am, a lot earlier than my alarm clock. Smoke is still one of those danger signals we recognize, even when the rest of our senses are on standby. We tune so many of those warning signs off in our daily life, meeting people, making risky business decisions, and yet perhaps, if we listened a bit more closely, perhaps our gut could tell us more about those situations that put us at risk, even remote risk. Perhaps it is only in the dead of night, when all distractions are tuned out, that we can see clearly.

In the end, the fire happened a few miles away from my home, and yet, even through closed windows and sound sleep, my body protected me.