the things we pack
If you had to leave your home in a fire, what would you take? Almost everyone says photo albums, medications, important documents. I bet no one says tennis rackets.
Even after returning last Wednesday, I haven’t yet unpacked my car. We had to evacuate at 4:30 AM from the Eaton Fire in Altadena. It had started at 6:12 PM the previous night. My grandson and I could see it as we drove home from his basketball practice, aborted by a power outage. We still had power at home, so I threw all my medications into a bag that I keep hanging on the back of my bathroom door for that purpose. And I packed a suitcase with almost all of my underwear, some clothes and my most precious jewelry. My husband asked me what I was doing. Did I think that we would be evacuated? I really didn’t. The fire was all the way over on the east side of Altadena, we are to the west, and I thought they would stop it before it got anywhere near us. We even evacuated some Altadena friends to our guest house, never dreaming that we would have to send them out into the night again before morning. I was simply doing what I’d been told to do…be ready, just in case.
At 3:30 AM I woke up and looked out our front window. I could see fire across a ridge. Fire looks much closer at night. I woke David just as our phones received an alert with an evacuation warning. In the winds the night before huge tree limbs had come down blocking the road behind us where our daughter and our evacuees were sleeping. So, our first order of business was to see if we could clear it. Two people in their 70s clearing huge limbs a foot in diameter was impossible, but we enlisted help from Josh in our guest house, and he lifted them like a mother lifting a car off of her children. Adrenaline or youthful strength?
The next order of business was to load the cars. Since I had some bags packed, I started taking our passports and birth certificates, very neatly put together in a grabbable file. I took my computer and the book I was reading (I wouldn’t go ANYWHERE without a book), and some other things from my desk. With time to spare I put photo albums in bags…not all of them, but the ones that I thought I could no longer replicate. Lastly, I grabbed the tennis rackets from the front closet. I intended just to save the boys’ new rackets, received as Christmas gifts. But our rackets were all there together, so I grabbed them all. Lastly, Dave took the WW II photos of our fathers from our hallway, including his dad’s Purple Heart and Silver Star. It didn’t look as neatly arranged as it does in this photo. It was thrown haphazardly into the car. Since returning, my clothes, computers and medications have come out. But I’ve kept the rest in my trunk. I guess I’m still feeling a little insecure. We are expecting more wind events this week, and the fire in Altadena isn’t quite extinguished.
There will be plenty of time for putting everything away in the days and weeks to come. For now, the empty spaces on our walls remind me to keep praying for those who have no walls at all.
Love, Liz
On Friday February 7 from 6:30-8:30 PM and Saturday, February 8 from 9-11 AM our church is hosting a conference on anxiety and depression at the Providence Christian College chapel at 464 East Walnut Street in Pasadena. This conference was arranged last fall before the fires that so profoundly affected our community. That decision now looks almost prophetic. We all have been touched by the fires. We each are either dealing with trauma that manifests as anxiety or depression, or we know someone who is. You might be feeling anxiety from other things affecting our community or nation or even the world’s dilemmas. You might know someone who has never recovered from the anxiety and depression that they experienced during the pandemic. If you are in SoCal and want to attend, you may register at https://subspla.sh/wsnqd5w. There will be childcare available, but registration will help the church know what is needed.
