wednesday morning, i went for my usual run, died a little as it was super hot and it was tougher than usual, i came home guzzled water, took a shower, folded some laundry, took the dog on a walk, answered some overdue emails and headed out to trader joes to shop.. as i rounded the corner, i saw a huge plume of smoke right over the row of houses in front of me.. my heart sank, flipped, then flopped. right then, i got a call from a friend and she was in panic mode! worried about the kids and questioning, do we pull them out of school and where do we go? i just stared as this plume of smoke, with no words.. i was more in a foggy daze than in a panic... i turned right, towards the girls school as thankfully, they are only a 1 minute drive from home. I parked the car and wandered inside the school, there was no panic in the air.. nobody picking up their kids, just a few moms chit chatting and staring at this plume of smoke.. Like me, in a daze. slowly cars began to pull up and you can see a bit of panic overcoming the school. i wandered in the office and in in a crackly voice said I guess I'm pulling the girls out.. a rush of parents rushed the office, some calm, others beginning to freak out. i grabbed my girls and we headed out. makena was really worried and i assured both the girls we are fine. We are fine. We ARE fine. we went home, grabbed some stuff and headed south.. i called a friend who lives in a safe part of san diego and we headed there.. my phone was blowing up with texts, concerns and generous offers to help. it is amazing the support system we have as moms. people generously opening their homes. friends and family are what make life good when it's good and great when it's bad.
It is all a big, cloudy blur.. i watched the news, comforted the girls and prayed a lot on this wednesday.. So here we are friday morning, firefighters still fighting with all their might... we returned home yesterday and i drank some bubbly {usually a celebratory drink, but not on this smokey thursday} I drank with neighbor friends, we told out stories and expressed out fears. we watched the news updates from our phones and we were distracted for a bit. I was exhausted by 4pm as another fire flared up and another was contained, and then another one almost there.. That night, we ate dinner as a family and i took the dog for a walk by myself as my husband cleaned up dinner, on my walk, in this quiet moment, i cried.. i looked at the gorgeous, purplish orange sunset and palm trees as they swayed so gracefully. . paradise was being burned to the ground, but somehow? I could feel a bit of calm in the air.. sort of a feeling of hope. i reflected on my wonderful support system, how we just "trust" that we will be protected by these heroes and mostly, how all i cared about my family and friends being safe. in this crazy.. On Wednesday as we fled I didn't care so much about my "stuff".. It's actually a good feeling that i didn't! I just wanted to be safe with my loved ones.
That's all.
my hard drive, some photos and my bag of camera gear, that's what I grabbed.
Memories.
life is what is precious.
hug your family tonight. I mean., really hug them.
the amazing firefighters are still fighting their little hearts out and i am so greatful and want to give back.
we donated coffee, water and pantry items to our local fire station this morning.. but i want to do more.
i am donating a family photoshoot to TWO firefighter families..
please email me at weddings@fawnchristianen.com.
i will literally be pulling your name out of a hat once i have a good amount of names and things have calmed down.. but if you know of an amazing hero and want to submit his name.. email me.
if you want to help.. here is a list of san diego fire station. pick your local one and do what you can.
http://www.sandiego.gov/fire/about/firestations/
{this photo was taken off my facebook page and photo credit was lost in translation, please let me know if you know so i may credit}
