The Sigh of Relief
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you only had twenty minutes to decide what is important in your life? That is exactly what I did on Sunday afternoon after seeing plumes of smoke on the way home from a swim meet in Bailey, Colorado. Some clothes, photos, and those irreplaceable keepsakes trumped everything in the twenty minutes I had to pack. In the hours and days after evacuation I thought of the things left behind, and realized that I was glad, of all things, that we decided to bring an icecream sandwich to the police officer who let us in to the neighborhood.
Yesterday was the community meeting to release the houses destroyed and damaged in Mountain Shadows. Thankfully, our house was not among them. Almost 350 houses, practically across the street, burned in our neighborhood in the Waldo Canyon Fire. It is still a threat and only 25% contained, but I keep thinking about the firefighters as President Obama comes to visit the devastation. I cannot imagine a more heroic group of people, and I will forever be in the debt of firefighters and of the friends who took us in and offered us everything in these days of crisis. The time lapse of the fire is amazing.
I have seen people and have been to houses I haven't visited in ten years. Although I can't ever wish for fire, the result has been wonderful. After the initial shock and coming to terms with reality, I have quite enjoyed the unexpected effects of having nowhere to go home to. We spend evenings with friends and afternoons chatting or running errands or in coffee shops stealing internet. The movie dates and dinner dates take us to friends I haven't had an honest conversation with in years. I grieve for what our community has lost, but I have always preferred the future to the past. My sister and I planned a house in the event that ours burned - the memories will always remain and those are what we did not want to lose anyway. The neighborhood will never be the same as in my childhood, but my future at least is filled with gratitude for the incredible people who put themselves in the path of a roaring fury to save the lives and homes of complete strangers.
Yesterday was the community meeting to release the houses destroyed and damaged in Mountain Shadows. Thankfully, our house was not among them. Almost 350 houses, practically across the street, burned in our neighborhood in the Waldo Canyon Fire. It is still a threat and only 25% contained, but I keep thinking about the firefighters as President Obama comes to visit the devastation. I cannot imagine a more heroic group of people, and I will forever be in the debt of firefighters and of the friends who took us in and offered us everything in these days of crisis. The time lapse of the fire is amazing.
I have seen people and have been to houses I haven't visited in ten years. Although I can't ever wish for fire, the result has been wonderful. After the initial shock and coming to terms with reality, I have quite enjoyed the unexpected effects of having nowhere to go home to. We spend evenings with friends and afternoons chatting or running errands or in coffee shops stealing internet. The movie dates and dinner dates take us to friends I haven't had an honest conversation with in years. I grieve for what our community has lost, but I have always preferred the future to the past. My sister and I planned a house in the event that ours burned - the memories will always remain and those are what we did not want to lose anyway. The neighborhood will never be the same as in my childhood, but my future at least is filled with gratitude for the incredible people who put themselves in the path of a roaring fury to save the lives and homes of complete strangers.
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