We All Fall Down

We all fall down.

A bad circumstance can happen to anyone.  It doesn't matter who you are or where you are; sometimes bad things will find you.  Such was the case of my dear friend Jen. (@TrekJen for the Twitterers)  Jen lives in a rather cool climate and last night was no exception; when the temperature dipped down she also lost power (and heat).  After attempting to find the solution, she did the responsible thing and shut down the main breaker (Admittedly something this writer may not have thought to do) and went to work to sleep.  It was warm there. While at work, tragedy struck and her house burned down.

"And my house burned down" She Tweeted.  (Jen is, as you may have surmised, not much of a complainer) The sad truth is that she lost everything in the fire and escaped only with the clothes she was wearing, a laptop computer, her phone and her dog.  Those of you who are familiar with Jen, know that she's had some hard knocks before and yet remains one of the most outgoing and vivacious of people.  She is kind, she is selfless and if you had the ability to build a friend, Jen would be the prototype.  That's no small thing in this world.  These are in fact precious qualities that must be preserved.

Despite the brave front, Jen's facing a tough road ahead.  While I'm profoundly and will be eternally grateful she escaped unharmed, the time is now for her friends to rally.  No one can mobilize like Trekkies and @Starfleetmom is no exception.  "The Mom" has provided a link to donate to help Jen through this difficult time and has been tireless source of updates.  (The link is at the bottom of the page, it's a safe PayPal contribution) It's not about rebuilding her home, she did have insurance for the structure but this will not replace the contents.  I'm speaking of necessities; clothing, a toothbrush, underwear, soap, the things that we all take for granted are in our closets and medicine cabinets. Have you ever gone without clean underwear? I have.  It's no picnic.  At least not one I would attend.

I know this is a difficult time for many people, but please donate what you can.  Large, small, everything and anything can be a help.  If you can't donate, I urge you to please retweet this and any other "TrekJen Fire Relief" blogs; post them to your own blogs, your Facebook pages or MySpace, wherever you may roam.

We all fall down.... but we can also help each other up.

Thank you for taking the time to read and for whatever help you may offer.