Wildfires, Friends, and Memories

CNN has been on in our house almost 24/7 for the last several days. We’ve been keeping up on the fires in San Diego and watching the scenes from afar and… Worrying. S grew up in San Diego and is watching as areas she knows quite intimately disappear into smoke and flame. It is surprisingly emotional for me to sit and watch these areas burn. The catastrophe of evacuation conjures images of Katrina and all of the “refugees” headed toward the sports stadium… only this time it’s from fire versus water. However, this situation is distinctly different considering the food, water, and other emergency supplies available. I’m glad to see we’ve learned something but I have to wonder about the differences between wealthy suburbs being served and the lack of help and services that were available for the poor parishes of New Orleans. Politics aside, this is still a very emotional issue as people are losing their homes and are scared for their lives. I can’t imagine what it is like to be in the middle of all of that confusion.

My best friend from high school, Karen, whom I’ve spoken about on this blog, is a firefighter in San Diego. She and her family live in the area and I’ve been very concerned for them. We’ve been texting, back and forth, about how she’s doing and some of the things going on in the area. She worked 36 hours straight, 24 of those hours working the fires, and called me on her way home for a brief rest break last night. She had to be back this morning, at 8AM, to report for more work.

My God… she’s my personal hero…

She worked as an EMT/paramedic, here in ABQ, for years. After moving to San Diego, she decided to apply to the fire academy and, at the age of 40, became a firefighter. I don’t know about you but I can’t imagine the physical and mental work necessary to become a firefighter as a 40 year old woman. But she did it and, by God, she’s an amazing person. She did all of this as a divorced, single mom to three boys, living on her own, working to support her family while going through the fire academy. Amazing.

She and I had lost touch for several years and found each other again through ironic circumstances. My sister had found Karen on one of those classmates websites and had emailed me. Now, I hadn’t heard from my sister in years (and haven’t heard from her again, since) but that one email set a huge reconnection into motion. Karen and I have been corresponding, intermittently, for the last several years but it wasn’t until last summer that we actually had the opportunity to see each other and hang out in her home. We’d met a few times before, when she was here in ABQ visiting and when her dad died this past year, but we only connected for a few hours so it was really nice to spend some quality time with her, meet her now grown boys, her new husband, and take a drive in her new car; her little red Corvette. We must both be going through some kind of mid-life crisis that we both decided to take the plunge and purchase our dream cars. I got my truck and she got her ‘Vette. Interesting choices, que’ no?

I decided to take a short vacation to California because I had been thinking about her and simply wanted to see her, reconnect in person. I just needed to know she was doing okay. I don’t really know why, or all of the answers as to how this happened, I think it may have stemmed from a dream I had, but I was positive that going out to visit her was what I needed to do. I’d written her a long-ass email, poured my heart out to her, and she responded. I felt like we were both in the same place in dealing with family issues, our own roles, how our lives have turned out, thoughts and feelings about where we were at emotionally, our age… I mean, how did we get to be 48 years old and feeling like we were still 30-something? Her birthday is just after mine (Yes! We are both Pisces!) and these kinds of thoughts and feelings come up around that time. So, we needed to connect.

It was as if we’d never lost touch, had been around each other all this time, and I had the same feelings about her that I had in high school. Isn’t it funny how that happens? She is the only person in my life, with the exception of my mom, that I’ve known for longer than just a couple of years. We have history and that’s important in relationship.

We have a special connection and, no doubt, always will.

Today she’s fighting fires in San Diego, worried about her own family, and trying to balance between life and death choices somewhere on the hillsides of San Diego. Her mom and boys have been evacuated and are at her house, along with all of their cats, girlfriends, and stuff, and I’m sure they are just as worried about her as she is about them. She told me that she’d be home in a heartbeat if her area was threatened and who can blame her for that? When I spoke to her, she was tired, in fact she was over-tired and swearing like a sailor. Or, maybe, like a fire fighter… lol… she does work with a bunch of rough ‘n tumble guys! She was also frustrated about what she could and couldn’t do in terms of saving homes and preventing the spread of the fire. I hope she got some rest and I truly hope she and her family are safe. She’s promised to text or call and let us know how she is doing. It was really good to just hear her voice and know she’s okay

She and her family and all of those people in California are in our good thoughts and prayers. I’d really appreciate it if ya’ll could put your good thoughts out that way…too.

So, yeah, this is a very intimate and personal time of worry for us. Childhood memories, best friends, family… all threatened or gone. It’s hard to watch on television and wonder what the real situation is and how everyone is doing. I didn’t grow up in that area but I grew up with someone who lives there.

So, to my personal hero… You Go Girl… and keep yourself safe. I plan on being your friend for the rest of our lives… which I hope is a very, very long time.

Love you… mean it!