Home sweet home

I was half joking when I wrote my last post, not yet realizing how bad it would get. It got a lot, lot worse, and is only now getting "better" for some. The air is fairly depressing around here, so amidst all this devastation I thought I'd focus on some of the positives.

Paul and I were fortunate enough to have the means for an "evacation" (our new moniker for evacuation vacation). We were also only voluntarily evacuated. We grabbed the guide book, got in the car, and headed north. We ended up in Santa Barbara where we found a nice hotel and tried to relax. We rented bikes for a few hours and rode around the beach front (although this lead to a small argument over whether or not Paul had to wear a helmet. I may have overreacted slightly when I said "Oh, yeah, that'll be great when I tell people, 'No, we didn't lose our home in the fire, but Paul's got a brain injury because he wouldn't wear a freaking helmet!'" Although I felt completely justified telling him he was being 'wicked retarded.'). We then stopped in a local winery, did some tastings, and bought a case of wine.

We'd never been north of LA, and the area was really beautiful. It also wasn't on fire, and that quickly became synonymous with beautiful and goodness. Those hill are really beautiful. They're also not on fire. This hotel is nice. It's also not on fire which is really nice. Other similar fire-related jokes were popular. When loading the wine into the car Paul quipped, "We might not have a house, but we'll have enough to drink so that we won't care." We then spent the night with Aunt Mary, where we were treated to a home-cooked meal and presents and got to watch House.

Returning home was a little eerie, but last night while I was scraping an unidentified gelatinous substance off the bottom shelf of the fridge, I though, "I'm really lucky to have a home." This fire has also made me incredibly grateful for all the people in our lives. In a sobering moment when we tried to picture what it would be like if the apt really burnt down, I turned to Paul and said, "It doesn't matter. We have all the important documents (Paul would have run into a burning structure to save his green card), we're out, we're safe, and we have friends and family who love us and will take care of us if we need help." It was a really good feeling. I hope the people that did lose everything can say the same.

The clean up hasn't been too bad for us, and even in all the ash and dust a little red beacon on happiness popped out at me:

I've been growing these tomatoes since July and this is the first to ripen!

And to put a smile on my face, Steph sent pictures of the little pumpkin:

Wearing an outfit from Auntie Amy, of course.

If you'd like to help out the people who weren't as fortunate, especially the kids that lost their pumpkins and Halloween costumes and toys, there are lots of ways to do so (but if you're not in CA, money is probably the best). Also, I'm usually a big cynic about corporate America, so I think it's important to highlight the good deeds that are being done by big business. Disney Land is even going to have a day just for firefighters and their families when this is over. It warms my heart, which is definitely where home is.