Southern California Peril

Sometimes we like to joke about California's four seasons: fire, flood, mud, and drought, but there was nothing funny about the fact that last week the fire came within one block of our home. A shift in the wind and I wouldn't be sitting in my home office right now. Within a five-mile radius of our home, over 25,000 acres were burned. It took 3,700 firefighters to deal with this disaster. Over 250 homes were destroyed or damaged. Miraculously, there were only seven injuries, no deaths reported. We don't take for granted the people who keep us safe. God bless the firefighters, police force and highway patrol, and others who put their lives on the line to save our property and more importantly, our lives.

There's nothing like a peril such as this to put our priorities in order. When you're planning an evacuation, and say you only have 20 minutes, you go for the mementos and important papers, birth certificates, deeds, etc. (unless you already have those in your safety deposit box at the bank). Material things really don't matter. We know that, but this really brings it home. This has really made my job
of decluttering much easier. As a self-professed pack rat (I inherited the gene from my dad), I put too much emotional attachment into things. When I try to analyze it (and why would I take the time to do that unless I really thought it would help cure me), I rationalize that it's because I lost my family early in life. Now, I tell myself that the clothes I'm giving away will help a family who lost everything in the fire. It may be a coincidence that we received two give-away bags for charity drives within one week after the fire.

Although we all are busy with our everyday lives, this does bring us closer to our neightbors. We're all breathing a sigh of relief. It's stressful just being on alert for two days. After a time-out, I've reactivated posting in my gratitude journal. We feel blessed. Excuse me while I write a check to one of the many local charities who will help victims of this tragedy. If you want to help, the Red Cross is a good place to start.

"The smallest deed is better than the grandest intention."