The holy temple of hardware

One of the Washington Post reporters who covered the fire that destroyed Frager's Hardware store on Capitol Hill last night is Michelle Boorstein.

Michelle Boorstein

I immediately recognized her name because she is the religion reporter for the Post. How appropriate, I thought, sending the religion reporter to cover the fire at Frager's. 

For those of us who live in the weird old houses of Capitol Hill, Frager's was a temple where we went at least weekly to ask the priest what the mysterious thing was that just broke under the sink and what sin we committed to cause it to break. The priest would search deeply within the secret and hidden places within the temple, produce a mysterious replacement and and sent us home with instructions on what we had to do with it to live a better and happier life. We paid our tithe at the counter.We paid gladly.

It turns out that Michelle Boorstein helped cover the story because she happens to live in the neighborhood as she explains in this poignant personal essay.

Still, it was totally fitting to have the religion reporter cover the fire at Frager's.