All I want for my birthday is...

I hope everyone isn't sick of me posting new things so much lately, but I absolutely have to get this post up. I have to express how grateful I am to a Heavenly Father who is merciful and how much he truly knows & loves each one of us. Therefore, because of his love for us, he watches over & protects us. Here's the story behind my gratitude...

With Darwin being out of town, I always get a little uneasy about being at home by myself, but I'm a big girl, so I can handle it, right? Well, all day long today, on and off, I could smell gas coming from the water heater in our laundry room. I didn't really think anything of it because it's happened in the past & it always comes and goes. (Not to mention I had our apartment manager over here a couple weeks ago when it happened and she didn't seem to think it was a very big deal.) So I kind of blew it off and didn't let it bug me. Then, tonight around 9:30 while I was washing dishes, I could smell the gas in the kitchen (usually I can only smell it in the hallway where our laundry room is), so I went to check it out and as I opened the laundry room door, the smell was almost overwhelming! Darwin called me shortly after & I asked him the name of the gas company because I couldn't think of it for the life of me, and I told him what was up but that I'd call the company tomorrow because I didn't think they'd be open. Then a minute later I got a pretty strong feeling that I should call them tonight because that was the worst I had ever smelled the gas. So, I told Darwin I was going to call the gas company & I'd call him right back. After calling the gas company, the guy on the phone told me to wait outside until someone could come check it out and that someone should be here within an hour (it was probably about 9:45 when I called). I was a little irritated that I had to wait outside, but I did it anyway and just talked to Darwin on the phone the whole time--we hung up just before the gas guy came. When he came in, he couldn't detect anything right away and said it was probably just a minor leakage. He still couldn't find anything and asked me to turn some hot water on to get the water heater working. About 30 seconds after I heard the water heater turn on, his machine started beeping like crazy! The guy stayed in the laundry room for another good 5-10 minutes, and then called me in. The conversation went something like this...

Gas Guy: "Ma'am, let me show you something in here. It's a very good thing you called us tonight and had someone come check this out." He then proceeded to tell me that the gas was not being sucked up the pipe as it should, sorry I don't know all the technical terms, but that there was an out-draft and showed me how you can test it. (At this point my heart begins to pound, and I don't even know what else he's going to say to me yet.) "My machine picked up off-the-charts levels of carbon monoxide poisoning. My machine only detects 9999 parts per mil, and that's what it's telling me we have here." (LETHAL amounts of carbon monoxide, by the way!!)
Me: "Really?" (Trying to act calm but totally panicking, especially because I just heard on the news less than an hour before about a family being saved because a 911 dispatcher told them to get out of the house because it sounded like they had high quantities of carbon monoxide in their house.)
Gas Guy: "Yeah, I shut off your water heater and you won't be able to use it until you get this fixed." And then he named off about 3 or 4 other hazards in relation to the water heater, had me sign a "Notice of Unsafe Operating Condition" slip to give to my apartment manager, and then left.

Good grief! Talk about wake up call! The guy was totally nice and tried to help me settle my nerves. I made sure it's safe for me to sleep here tonight and he told me I'd be fine now that he turned the water heater off, and as long as I keep the windows open to let the air in the apartment vent out. So, after all of this excitement, I'm still a bit nervous to go to sleep tonight. It's several hours past my normal bed time and I'm still completely wide awake. I know everything will be fine, but I have to say too that after all of this, all I want for my birthday is a carbon monoxide detector; and I will for sure be going to get one tomorrow!! But, also, thanks be to a merciful Father in Heaven who loves me and has answered our prayers by watching over me while Darwin is gone and prompting me to call the gas company! Let this be a warning to us all...go get a carbon monoxide detector!!