Wednesday, October 24, 2007

deja vu...firestorm 2007

sunday afternoon i went to meet some friends for a drink, and my nose caught a whiff of something that instantly transported me back 4 years. in 2003, a very large part of san diego was on fire. i was evacuated from my apartment and lived with friends for 4 days. sunday the fires returned in full force in san diego...now worse than 2003...and the smell of smoke has again pervaded the city. it is a very different experience, however, living where i do now. i am now living in a far more urban area, well-protected from where the fires are burning. working down in mission valley has kept me relatively isolated. we have been getting onshore winds up through the valley which have kept the air relatively clear. in 2003, the whole sky was clouded with smoke making it feel completely overcast. my closest connection this time is to a few friends who have been evacuated, and a couple of other friends who i found out yesterday have lost their homes. i went and served dinner to some volunteers and families who have been displaced at an evacuation center. everyone is in good spirits despite the uncertainty of the future for them. the outpouring of generosity and giving has been huge in san diego - evacuation centers have more food then they know what to do with, more volunteers than they can put to work...there is still good in the world. now if the news would only talk about that once in a while. (that's a whole other post.) oh, and the news is loving this, of course, naming it "firestorm 2007." do we really need to brand a disaster? (again another post sometime on my frustration with the current news media.) so for now life is again surreal...the winds are shifting and now blowing back in all the ash that had blown out over the ocean. it's amazing how a smell can trigger such vivid memories... ~aroll

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