For anyone who is a Stillwater Ponies fan, those are words you don’t really want to hear, but for us, on the night of our house fire, hearing the words “Go Bears!” gave us some hope, a distraction and a sense of community.

It was probably about 3 a.m. and the firefighters were finally able to get inside the house to fight the fire. Hanna’s bedroom was at the furthest possible point from the garage, which is where the firefighters were finally able to enter the house.

Hanna’s White Bear Lake Bears hockey jersey from her U19 championship team, after being pulled from the fire.

We were camped out in our lawn chairs watching the activity when all of a sudden two fireman came running over to us and asked, “Does someone here play hockey for the White Bear Lake Bears?” Hanna responded that it was her. The two guys were so excited. They explained they were from the White Bear Fire Department (remember, there were 10 different departments called in to help), and they had been in her bedroom and saw a framed jersey.

A side note is needed here: I’m sure many of you are asking why there was a Bears jersey in our house. Well, for Hanna, wearing the Bears jersey has always come with conflicting feelings. Cut from the Stillwater High School hockey team, she found a group of girls playing u19 hockey for White Bear. Her love of the sport gave her the strength to don the Bears jersey, although she’ll always be a Pony. As the team’s assistant captain, she helped lead the team to the u19 state championship this past season.

So, back to the story. Because it was a Bears jersey, the White Bear firefighters  felt a certain obligation to save it. They smashed the frame, grabbed the jersey and ran out of the house with it. When they handed it over to Hanna, they gave us an enthusiastic, “Go Bears!”

For just a second, we all smiled. The community pride was so strong, it was a great reminder that we are so much more than the stuff in our house. We saw two fires burning that night: the one that took away all of our belongings, and the one that fuels the passion of our communities.

Go Bears!

 

 
The ottoman, safavid, and mughal empires were all a https://justdomyhomework.com.