When I saw today’s daily prompt from WordPress, I thought of my sister Judy.  She has a quirky habit, in fact we tease her that it borders on OCD.  This habit of hers goes way back; as far as I can remember in our adult lives, anyway.  We lived together for a couple of years and that’s when I first found out about her secret life:  part-time fire marshal.

I think I first noticed it when, every morning, I had to plug the hair dryer or curling iron back into the outlet in the bathroom.  I would leave them on a hook, but plugged in, to make them easy to reach and then use each day. Judy always made sure that they were unplugged before we left the house for work.  At first I thought it was to save energy until she told me that she did it to make sure we wouldn’t have a fire.

Even when we no longer lived together, Judy would unplug things in my apartment.  After one of our Sunday afternoon football fests, I’d go into the kitchen or bathroom and find dangling cords that earlier in the day had been plugged into their respective outlets.  By then it had become a running joke and I’d simply walk around the apartment looking for what had been unplugged, and promptly return the plugs to the proper place.

If you ask her to check on your cats, or take in your mail, or water your plants, while you’re on vacation, watch out; you are likely to come home to all of your small appliances being unplugged.  You’ll be required to reset the clock on your coffee pot and plug the toaster back in before you can have your english muffin.

Turning off the oven, making sure the car door is locked or unplugging small appliances, Judy’s vigilance has likely improved our safety and security along the way. We all need to thank the people who look out for us every day, no matter how quirky (or annoying) it gets.  Thanks, Jude!