Fighting fire with...

GARTH BROOKS!
As most of you are aware, we had a heck of a fire season here. Along with many others, we were evacuated when the fires began threatening our homes. The Horno Fire came within a few miles of us and was a frightening site for several days. Leaving our home in the middle of night, fire on the horizon, smoke in the air and ashes raining from the sky, was one of the most frightening and sad events in my life. As a military family, I believe our possessions hold even more value to our hearts than the average family. We don't have a home base, a structure to call our own, so we make each place we land our home. We do so with the physical reminders of our unique lives and our travels and homes over the U.S. and the world. While I am the first one to purge the unnecessary from my home, I am also the champion of the sentimental. I've left behind family, friends, beloved pets, the homes I brought my babies to for the first time, the church I married in, the beloved island that brought me the best 3 years of my life. In each sentimental object, I find a memory. Whether it be love, laughter, sorrow, joy, or any other emotion, the memories triggered are the tapestry of our life.
When the evacuation became a reality, I frantically darted in and out of the rooms of this home, desperately trying to decide what really mattered to me. Was it pictures? The teddy bear my mother painted when pregnant with me? The crucifixes given to my children for their baptism? My baby book? Grandma Eva's artwork? Books that changed my life? The teddy bear I slept with until the fur was gone and the stuffing has fallen out? Letters from old friends?
As we departed our home for what could be the last time, backlit by the orange haze on the ridgeline behind our homes, it felt as thought I left behind parts of the soul of my family. Had we brought the most important things? I'm sure some of you are scoffing at this internal debate, thinking, "it's only stuff! The most important thing is that you were safe!" And, you know what? You're right. That was the most important thing. But the second most important thing to me is the place I wake up to each day and lay my head to rest each night.
It's the place I raise my children, love my husband and cherish my friends. And without all that stuff, I didn't know how I would make a home, remember the days past and create a haven for the days of the future. I still don't know, but what I do know is that God was watching over so many of us during that dismal week. We were safe, our homes were saved and life moved on. God was watching and the firefighters were channeling his power to find the strength and perseverance to keep fighting til victory was theirs. And theirs it was.
So where, you ask, does Garth Brooks fit into all this?
With one hell of a benefit concert (actually 5 of them in 3 days!) with all proceeds benefiting the Fire Intervention Relief Effort. Click here to donate or read about it...
http://www.rrmtf.org/2008firerelief/default.aspx
Thanks to my MOST fabulous Uncle Ted and Aunt Deb, we were lucky enough to see this amazing tribute and benefit. And I took a picture just before the concert of all of us. It's another memory to add to add to my tapestry, something else I'd grab just before the next fire, flood, hurricane, typhoon, earthquake...

Thanks for the memories, all of you. I hope they forever live in my mind, my house, my boxes, on my walls and in each of you.
And a huge thanks to Aunt Deb, Uncle Ted & Becca for making this new place feel so much like home with your love, your open arms, your laughter and just being you. We love you all so much.
Sentimentally!
Tiff