Fires

My oldest son lives with his grandmother (his father's mom) in Pasadena. He's lived out in California with his father for the past little over 5 years. Every now and again he talks about moving back in with us, but I think that he likes the hustle and bustle of Southern California. I never grew to like the hustle and bustle growing up in California, and would rarely venture south of Santa Barbara, nor would I often go north of Paso Robles (actually my comfort range was fairly limited). But Colin has thrived living out there.

I talked to him this morning about how close the fires are to where he is. He assured me that the smoke isn't too bad and that the fires are still a ways away. He said that they're probably half an hour's drive from home (which given the tendencies of uncontrolled fires is far too close for his concerned mom). He promised that he would call me if they have to evacuate. I'm sure that his grandmother has places she can go to, and Colin's father lives in San Diego hopefully not in the path of the fire, tho Colin said that his dad's fiancee's school (she's a teacher) had classes cancelled due to the fire. But he knows that my family is to the North out of the reach of the fire and they are watching the fire and worrying too.

He mentioned when we were on evacuation alert during the Hayman fire here. How weird it felt to box up photographs and to try to figure out what we'd take. My mom was here visiting during that time and was terribly upset because I refused to hire a moving van and empty my house. We didn't have to evacuate so we still have out house and our belongings. I learned alot when Chris and I were first married and there was a terrible fire in Santa Barbara (1989ish). Chris was in Korea on business with his boss and called me because his boss had been unable to reach his wife. He gave me the address of his bosses house and I had to inform him that every house on that street had burned to the ground. His boss's wife had taken some relatives to the airport and could not get back to their house. They lost everything, their house, their horses, dogs, cats. Everything. So, had we had to evacuate during the Hayman fire, we still would have been blessed.

I am sure that my son will be safe. Hopefully soon the fires will be out.