How quickly we take something for granted. I’m amidst an 800 acre fire that’s now 50% contained (that’s a positive - it’s been 20 for almost a week!), and the second biggest fire in Washington state. I’m four miles away from it. We made the decision to evacuate for a night this week due to being so close to the evac map and so unsure if we’d end up getting that knock on the door at 3a in the morning to grab and go. It’s so different looking at a perspective that you might not look back at a place again. So what’s important to you? What’s the items you don’t want perished that you have 5 minutes to grab for?
That’s a hard bloody question. Hat night? Grabbed only what we needed to survive and fled. I didn’t get to think about what I wanted to keep “alive” if I was never coming back. Didn’t get a chance to, really. So I started thinking about it. I wrote down a TON of things. And then started going through the list - because really, was half of those things truly important to me? And why? Could I explain to myself or to anyone else as to why/what? I’m still deciphering. I have so much crap that I don’t need right now it’s ridiculous. It’s all so replaceable. We don’t think about that until it’s almost too late. So might be going through my stuff again. Don’t need it, do i?
Still battling the fire, like I said. But we’re back in the apartment, smoke all around us from ours, Oregon’s, and probably Cali’s too. Waiting waiting waiting. Just ever so lingering.