We've had the news on pretty much 24/7 this week as the fires continue to sweep through Southern California. My parent's house spared but
it feels weird to be relieved. For every relieved family there are
plenty of ones in mourning. Homeless, even though home is so much more
than a house. Doesn't make it any easier for those who return to
smoldering ashes. Families. People I know. It's especially hard to be
away from home. Even though Los Angeles is technically where we live. Eight years since I've lived in Encinitas with my parents. And even
though Los Angeles has been burning as well, we've been separate from
the horror... seeing only smoke from afar. North of us. West of us.
East of us. South of us.
It would feel weird for me to blog about anything else this week. So I haven't.
The world has sort of stopped these last few days and even though the
majority of the fires are extinguished, I've long been refreshing my
browser. Waiting for news of quiet. Peace. Watching the news. Getting
annoyed when the same news gets repeated. Nothing new.
I've
been on edge all week. Watching footage of my hometown on fire.
Calling my parents around the clock. My siblings. Old friends. Waiting
for the fires to end. I go in and out, leaving Archer, sometimes alone
in the living room, with the news on mute. Doing dishes. Making phone
calls. Checking friend's blogs to make sure everyone's okay.
Today,
I called for Archer, forgetting the TV was still on in the other room.
On mute. He was staring at the screen. At the fire. And he was blowing
on it. Blowing with all his might, like he does when I light candles.
Except somehow he understood that this was so much bigger than a
candle. So much bigger than a million candles.
"Archer? What are you doing, bug?"
Archer
looked over at me wide-eyed and then went back to the TV... Flames
spread through the hillside and the smoke billowed out of frame. He
continued blowing. Huffing and puffing until the news segment ended. He
then, looked back at me, thrilled. Like he had done something
tremendous. He clapped and he clapped. "Yay!" he said.
"Yay!" I said. "You made the fire go away!"
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