Reflection...

As I sit here and reflect on this last week it makes me.....emotional. 

Having my Husband away doing training and only being able to communicate through email (which I am grateful for) and having SO much happen within a day...adds to the everyday stresses.  Having so little time to decide what in life is mot important to grab is a VERY hard choice.  I grabbed the few things that I knew off the top of my head, the dog, the kids, and myself.  That was the most important.  

The first people I could think to call were my Mom, Dad, and Bills Unit.  Within 20 minutes Bill had called and said that he heard there was a fire on the news and wanted to make sure we were okay.  We were on our way to our evacuation site so I pulled over and tried to calmly explain what was going on.  After talking to him, I knew that everything would eventually be okay.  It may not have been at THAT moment, but it would be.  We got to the Gym, signed in, and met up with some of my bestest friends.  We all waited....and watched as the fire got larger and closer to our homes.  We could see the thick, black smoke and even flames from the gym.  On the inside, I was a mess!!  Trying not to break down and cry in front of the Kids was SO hard.  I just wanted to melt.  Having my Girlfriends there helped a lot!!!  We all tried to stay calm and just go with the flow....not knowing what was going to happen next.

After a few hours at the Gym, we were told that we would not be returning home that night.  A few of us got a hotel room in San Diego and drove there for the night.  It was nice for us adults to stick together not only for our sake, but also the Kids.  We needed to keep them as calm as we could and being together was the best option.  After very little sleep for all of us....ok, well the Kids got good sleep, we walked a little ways to eat breakfast.  It was nice to get out of the hotel and tai our minds off of all of the chaos.  After IHOP, we went shopping.  We then decided to head back to Base and see the status of our neighborhood.  We knew that about 40 power poles were damaged and needed replaced before we could return.  Almost back, I got a phone call saying that we can return home.  Feeling nervous, I drove straight to the house.  After pulling up to the house, I had a sense of relief.  Our house was still standing.  

Walking in my house and realizing that I could have came back to nothing was very overwhelming.  There are so many things in my house that I cherish and would love to take with me.  Too bad there is only so much room in an SUV.  

We still had fires that were close to our area so new bags were packed and ready.  Things that I had forgotten the first time were grabbed and by the door.  I wasn't able to grab Tim the first time, so he was one of the first things ready to go if we had to leave again.  Yes, I do believe that his presence helped keep me as calm as I could have been and kept our houses safe.  

I explained to the Kids everything that was going on.  Why the air was smokey and the ash was falling from the sky.  We watched one of the fires from our living room window.  We even sat down and prayed (my Kids aren't use to that).  We wanted everyone to be safe and not get hurt.  There were plenty of questions from the Kids and all I could do is answer them the best I could.

Going to bed that night was difficult.  Would we be okay for the night or would we be woken up to have to leave again??  We were able to sleep all night and not have to leave.  By that next morning, the smoke and ash was clearing the sky.  We were finally able to stand outside for more than 30 seconds without out noses and throats burning from the smokey air.  

As time went on, the danger slowly went away.  Which means the stress was slowly going away as well.  We still have bags packed and ready.  I think this whole experience put us all on our toes knowing that we really weren't prepared.  

Being able to get a phone call from Bill everyday during all of this has definitely helped.  I know that he was stressing out and worried about us.  He must not know that us "Stroller Mafia Bitches" can handle anything that comes our way when our Husbands are gone!!! :)