Wild Fires

Wild fires! No, it is not the name of a book; it is what’s happening right now in southern California. San Diego and Malibu LA are burning from Sunday, fires have not been controlled, hundreds of houses are damaged and large areas are evacuated. These tragedies are happening every couple of years in Santa Ana season (warm dry winds blowing from South). And yes, there are always smaller fires around as well. Sky was dark today, Air smelled of smoke, and it was raining ash.
In this sorry state we (dear hubby and I) were asking ourselves what will happen if we have to evacuate. What are we going to take with us?
Well, we both had the same answer: our cats, important papers, our photo albums, a couple of art works that are one of a kind, two velvet jewelry pouches my grandmother made before she passed, and maybe my jewelry (all of it fits in one hand!). These are all our un-replaceable belongings and with the exception of cats and framed art work, will fill only one small duffel bag.
The interesting part was I didn’t think about my books, my journals, my stories and poems, my clothes, handbags, or not even my necklace and pendant collection although I got every piece of it from a different city.
My other interesting discovery was when you have to prioritize you see you only have a very few and important belongings: your loved ones and your memories.