“When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are.” ~ Magic Johnson
As I write this on Wednesday morning, many of our friends and neighbors have either been evacuated due to the fires or are waiting to be told to evacuate. The skies are a little more clear today. And there’s always hope.
Last night I drove out to the intersection of Hwys.13 and 64. It looked like a war zone. I went home and prepped, trying to figure out how I was going to get my pets and my daughter’s pets (they’re on vacation, thankfully) out in one car. So far, so good here in town, but a shift in conditions could change that at any moment.
For those who haven’t been through a wildfire season, and these two fires have certainly been different than the ones we’ve experienced in previous years, it’s nerve racking. Any crisis brings out the best — and the worst — in us all.
If you’re of the anxious variety (*raises hand) there’s been little sleep and a lot of frenetic scrambling on the internet to find information.
If you’re more of the of the controlling type it becomes a fight to find personal agency, to DO something. For some that means packing and preparing to leave, for others it means finding a way to volunteer or give back, and for some it puts their keyboard warrior mouthiness into overdrive. If you can’t do something, you can always pick fights on social media over trivial nonsense to make yourself feel better.
One thing we should all be doing is to remember to be kind, show each other grace, and be present in the moment. I’ve caught my admittedly overactive imagination running away with the show more than once over the last few days and as it ramps up into panic mode (the body responds to the brain as if the imagined scenario is real), stopping to breathe and remind myself that I’m safe right this minute and the people responding to the situation are competent, effective, and doing their level best to keep us that way, has helped stopped the spiral.
Talking to friends helps, too. I’m grateful to the friends and family who have checked in, both near and far, and reminded me I’m not alone. We’re all in this together, and we need to remember that.
Much gratitude goes to our local county and town officials and employees and volunteers who have worked nonstop to keep accurate information flowing, to take care of evacuees, and to keep us safe.
Many thanks also to the firefighters who swoop in to assist our local crews, bringing not just equipment and expertise, but an objectivity that’s necessary.
In the days ahead we’ll likely need to sit with those who’ve been most impacted, hold their hands, let them grieve, and weep with them. And we’ll all need to do some internal work to reset ourselves after an experience that shakes our sense of security and safety.
The “bug-out” guidelines for being ready to evacuate list five P’s to have to take with you: paperwork (a lot of this stuff is online now, but things like passports and birth certificates and licenses still need to be collected), prescriptions, pets (even if you just have cats and dogs, this can get a little complicated… my scramble to find a cat carrier yesterday was a reminder that I should probably own one, even if I never need to put my indoor kitty in it). The last one, priceless items, is wildly subjective. As I looked around my house I realized that the only really priceless things are my people and pets. Everything else is just stuff, and stuff can be replaced.
It’s time to get pages off to the printer, so I’m signing off. Lord willing we’ll be back to “normal” sooner rather than later.
Our love to you all. Keep the faith.