Yesterday I had awesome plans of visiting a few places. At around 2 pm, when I was done with lunch Downtown, I headed back to Parker in order to wait for the people I was supposed to see. Upon my arrival to Parker, I noticed a heavy smell of smoke. I noticed a haze, and started looking around. "There's gotta be a fire," I thought... I rushed home even more quickly when the closer I got to my house, the hazier it got.
I got home, and quickly turned on the news. 8500 people evacuated. Alerts everywhere... I waited for about an hour and then decided that maybe it was a good idea to start packing things up. I couldn't believe the fire was so close, and everywhere in the news all they kept saying was: it's moving quickly, it's spreading rapidly.
Then I heard "Hilltop Rd." was on the edge of the alert area. That's less than five minutes away from my house. I was home alone with Nacho. I freaked out a little bit.
I have always been asked "if there was a fire, what would you take with you?" and I have always said "my pictures."
The reality is that once there was a mild threat. I panicked. I kept looking around my room: Panamanian history my grandma just sent, my computer, my external hard drive with over 7 years of pictures, my books, my photo albums, my jewelry, my baby pictures... God. I kept looking around saying "this is me, my life, my memories." Where do you even begin to pack up your life? What do you keep to, say, restart your life in order to hold on to something that represents you, or your identity?
The truth is that being ok, and healthy, is what is most important.... but we are so attached to things. I am so attached to things. My hard drive, my expensive jewelry, and my important papers (passport, teaching certificates and social security card) were the things I chose to carry. Those were the things coming with me... those were the things I chose to begin a new life with me if the fire were to reach us. Thank Goodness nothing happened. No structures were burned and, as of this afternoon, the fire is contained.
Behind I left my books, my photo albums, my scrapbooks, my stuffed animals, my mementos, my clothes, my artwork. I didn't even think to pack clothes.
What would you carry?
I called my family to tell them what was going on and every single one of them asked me to grab their laptop lol
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