Wednesday, June 27, 2012

R is for Reality. A place I don't want to be today.

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Blogging through the Alphabet time again. I missed a lot.  Again.  N is for North Dakota is the last one I posted.  And now we're to R.

R?  R is for Reality.

Today, I want to live in Fantasy.  You know, where some make-believe yucky thing happen, but when all is said and done, the hobbit-hole is still there, and Sam is surrounded by his happy, adorable children.

Where the images aren't real.  You can watch horrific events, and you know that it is mostly make-up and paint creating that devastation.

I've been up for an hour.  My iPod woke me telling me about yet another Fire Danger Warning.  Yesterday, it woke me to warn me of a flash flood alert for today.

Yes.  I live somewhere where those two things can happen simultaneously.  And both have the potential to be devastating.

The sun is about to rise.  It is just about starting to peek over the horizon.  I'm sure it is another totally beautiful sunrise.  But I'm not ready.

KRDO posted on Facebook a bit ago that as soon as the sun was up, they'd get us a live look at things this morning.  I couldn't stop myself.  I posted back:  "I don't want a live look. I wanted to get up and have you tell us that we were all suffering from a group hallucination..."

We're not in danger.  We live way east of Colorado Springs.  Colorado Springs, where the images I saw last night were shocking.  A thunderstorm went through to the north, and the winds spun the wildfire into a completely different direction.  And I watched as live, on-air, the flames from the Waldo Canyon fire started descending the hills into the city.  My city.  And I refuse to post photos this morning.  Visit my Facebook page if you want to see some of those.

It was fast.  It was horrible.  Every few minutes, it seemed, they were announcing a new evacuation area.  The reports say 32,000 people have been evacuated.  I'm not sure that is accurate, as that number was being tossed out fairly early in the evening, before all of the evacuation orders came through.

Everything in the news was hitting us.  We may not live in the Springs, in the sense of it being our physical address.  But it is where we do so much.  Our city.  Our community.


Forever changed.


I was numb last night.  I woke up sobbing.  I'm back to numb.


A friend summed it up well on Facebook.
You know that happy, cozy, safe feeling you get when your family is home and you are going to bed? Don't take that for granted.
Pray please.  This fire is far from over.  And thunderstorms in the wrong places could bring even more devastation today.

It is definitely light out.  So fantasy, apparently, is not an option.

I have to live in reality.

Lord help us all...


Other people blogged about far less depressing R things... go check those out.

5 comments:

Sam said...

Oh Debra. There are no words. Praying.

Carrie said...

Oh Dearest Debra,

I am so sorry...I will be praying for you...
Love,
C~

Kym said...

Continuing to pray - for safety, for rain, for miracles.

Noteable Scraps said...

Praying for you, blogging friend. One of my best friends lives in Colorado Springs. Terrifying time.

Michele said...

Praying for peace for you and relief for the Springs!