What Matters Most

11:30 a.m.:

We're notified of a fire in the Carlsbad area, a few miles due south of our home.

Home we go to pack "what matters" and await an evacuation notice.

A mixture of confusion, solace, sadness, and intermittent determined focus

guide my steps...

room-to-room...

this closet...

that box...

this cabinet...

that shelf...

It's an eerie, yet slightly freeing feeling

to look at the 

"things"    

I own 

and determine:

"What matters most."

Nick and I (cumulatively) have been through

    tornadoes,

tsunami warnings,

earthquakes,

huricane warnings,

snow storms,

scary, icy roads,

I'm sure the list goes on.

This, however, was our first fire experience.

And based upon news reports, 

this was the first and worst "mass fire" experience

for all of San Diego. Period.

Of course, I've seen a fire.

But nothing like this:

   These shots were still miles away from my home,

but my heart was aching for those that were already affected, including many of my coworkers and friends.

As I crested the hill to my house, I saw this:

smoke over the hill...

which I later learned was white smoke,

which meant the fire was being put out.

White smoke=good news

Black smoke=bad news

     From our front yard,

we could see smoke on all sides of us.

At this point there were about 6 fires around North County.

It felt a bit like an apocalyptic movie...smoke rising from everywhere on the horizon.

So, back to finding

WHAT MATTERS

I realized that many of the things I spend a lot of my energy and time on are 

NOT WHAT MATTERS.

We ended up packing:

pictures,

important documents,

momentos from Nick's parents,

a few seashells,

a few items of clothing,

computers, external hard drive, cameras,

and my guitar. 

WHAT MATTERS

didn't even fill the back of our truck.

 And there we sat...awaiting a notice of evacuation.
Nick put together our new bar stools, 
and I made tacos.
Because everyone needs a good taco while waiting to evacuate. 

When the fires started to come under more control,

we went to the grocery for 

wine and ice cream.

In the ten minutes between entering and leaving the store,

this popped up:      

 By night, it wasn't yet contained, but somehow we were able to sleep.

 Perhaps the lullaby of a full moon protected us.

 By morning, the fire looked like it had calmed down, but the news reported that it was 0% contained.

Unfathomable.

0% contained.

My heart was breaking for the firefighters and emergency crews who had been working all night while I slept soundly.

Our schools had been called off, so instead of continuing to watch the news, Mom came up and we went to the pool.  

 As we left the pool, the fire had raged on and the smoke was blowing our direction, so inside we went.

That leaves me here, today.

Still reflecting on WHAT MATTERS MOST.

I told my hubs that I was ready for another "things" purge,

and he reminded me that even though most of our "things"

DON'T MATTER,

they do bring us joy.

I promised him I wouldn't get rid of too much ;)

aloha.