Blink of an Eye

I live in a beautiful place, close to the mountains and canyons, in a small suburb of a beautiful city. I’m grateful and I appreciate this place.
But today it is very clear to me that life can change in the blink of an eye.

I am here at my computer because I want to stop watching. I don’t want to watch anymore. It?s too nerve racking. Why are we compelled to watch? Train wrecks, car crashes, forest fires? I know that the reason I am compelled to watch this one because it is too close, too close to my home, my life, my family, my friends. Much too close for comfort.

As I sit here at my computer there is a huge forest fire burning in the canyon behind my house. I can see that the mountain I love has burned to black, I can see the flames rising up in places, I smell the acrid smell and see the billows of smoke enveloping the valley. Yes, it is way too close for comfort! A neighborhood about ½ a mile away with about 20 homes has had a mandatory evacuation. They said on the news for the families to ?just take the clothes on your back and get out?. One of my daughter?s best friends lives in that neighborhood.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be cooler?.perhaps in the 80?s rather than the 100 it is today. Please let the weather cooperate.

The latest news said that 200 homes are being threatened. Mine is probably one of them. I better go take care of some things.

And I better go watch.

Update:
It’s been a few hours. The smoke has settled. It doesn’t seem quite so bad now. There are still some flames that I can see right above my house but it has moved quite a ways east on the mountain. Down near the houses it seems to be contained.
The news said that it will be reevaluated at 9:00 pm and the people who were evacuated will probably be able to return to their homes.
The air quality is still pretty bad so there will be no playing outside tonight. It would be nice if it would rain (not likely, but nice).

Update:
It’s morning. The fire is still burning a bit but it has calmed down dramatically. The evacuee’s were able to return to their homes in safety. Since I was watching the news (which I don’t really do much) I saw that some families in Boise were not so lucky. Send them our prayers.

At this point it seems the fire here is contained.