Heroes

By the numbers. 168 completely burned houses in the Four Mile Canyon Fire. Amazing. That means not just part of the house, but the ENTIRE house is gone!! Can you imagine it? I am having a hard time fathoming it and looking forward with trepidation to seeing the destruction. Also, why did some houses burn and ones right next door have NO damage whatsoever? I have three personal friends that lost everything. They have just the clothes on their back. And you know what? Not one of them is complaining. Actually, one was quite stoic about it. He said, "hey, I went through Katrina and lost everything, so I'll just start again". Amazing!! Oh, by the way, no loss of life!!

Which brings me to last Sunday. There was a street fair on east Pearl St. Food, booths, the usual. What was unusual, was they were able to put together a makeshift parade for the firefighters. Down the street they came, firefighters, families that lost everything, a makeshift band, and people just celebrating!! People waving banners thanking the people that helped them save their homes. There were plenty of tears including from myself. The firefighters actually seemed embarrassed by the attention. These firefighters were young kids, older guys, women, professional firefighters, and volunteers. All races and ethnic backgrounds. When a community comes together it is truly awe inspiring.

If you knew a disaster was about to wipe out your house and you had a 1/2 hour to take things from your house, what would you grab?

Fall

I figured out that the last time I spent a winter was when I was 18 in Chicago. Am I looking forward to it? Well, sort of. It will be fun and I know it will get COLD, but this foreplay is the best. The leaves are starting to change color, there is a briskness in the air, sleeping in the cool night with a blanket is heaven, and sitting in the backyard with my coffee and a blankie wrapped around me in the morning is bliss. Even the birds and squirrels seem to be cheerful, happy, singing and chirping (or whatever it's called that squirrels do). So I talk back to them. Am I Dr. Doolittle? I'm sure my neighbors think I'm crazy and who's to say I'm not!! Are crazy people the last to know? Anyone out there that can answer that? Ahh, but that's the conundrum. If you know the answer, what does that say about you?