This week has been nuts..
It all started on Sunday.. By Sunday night, they were evacuating homes about 30-40 miles away from us. I told Will we might want to pack a bed before going to sleep. He asked why. With tears streaming down my face, I said in case we have to evac tonight. He grabbed me and told me we'll be fine. We'll worry about it when and if it happens.
So we went to sleep. I couldn't sleep though.. I laid in bed, after watching a movie, with the radio on. It was all over the news, on every channel out here that has news. And on every radio station. Continues talk about the fires, and the evacs that were taking place. I somehow fell asleep around 1am.
Will had to go into work for an hour on Monday, for turnover. He had to be there at 7am. I was just going to hang out at base until he got off at 8, by the time I'd get home, I'd have to drive back to get him. So we woke up at 6. I was so tired. Turned the radio on.. I told him that I am gonna come back home after I drop him off and pack up just in case. It was getting close, and more and more evacs were happening.
It was 6:30am and we were ready to walk out the door. He called the person who is in charge of them, told them that he is ready to leave for work, but we might be getting evac'd and that we gotta pack up the house. She said it was fine and to keep her updated. Awesome. So I call my mom, in tears.. Scared. Told her we're packing up. Right now, it's just for precaution. I wanna be ready in case it happens. Will and I sat around for about 45 minutes. No need to hurry up the packing.. Until about 7:15ish when my friend called.. "Poway is under mandatory evac, and MCAS Miramar has been shut down." That's what she told me. We're next after Poway, and MCAS Miramar is 5 minutes west of us.
As soon as I hung up, Will and I went at it. We packed up our clothes, important papers, waters and snacks, food for the cat, photo albums, plankets and pillows and any other important things. And then we sat. I thought for sure we'd be evac'd by noon. About 10am, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes opened, so I laid on the couch for a nap. When I woke up at 12:30ish and realized we hadn't been evac'd yet, I was feeling hopeful. I thought we were safe, for the most part.
About 1:30 Will and I decided to watch a movie together, Transformers. Finally around 1:50 we get setteled and start watching.. And then the doorbell rings. Will gets up to answer. It was a fire protection man, or something. He asked if we got our reverse 911 call telling us to evac. We said no. He then told us that we're under mandatory evacuation and had to leave. It was go time. I called my mom and told her. And I called my friend, who's house we were going to. We packed up the rest of the stuff, the cat, litter box, litter and her bed in case we had to evac from my friends house and take the cat to my other friends house (confusing much). And we took off. Checked to make sure our neighbors were good and didn't need help and we got on the freeway. We went about 10 minutes South to our friends house. And that's where we stayed.
There was a possibility of us getting evac'd from there too. So we just brought in our lap tops and food and water and the litter box for the cat. At this time, the cat was freaking out. Earlier in the morning when we were packing, she was freaking. And all day she was cuddling with me. When we got to my friends house, where she has been a few times, she was a little unsure. And didn't come out of her kennel for a while. Once she did, she stayed under the couch for most the day.. Until about 8pm. We just hung out, in a cram packed house.. There were 2 cats, 1 dog, 5 adults and 1 toodler in a small house. My friends brother was out, so it was packed. But it was entertaining.
Monday night we thought we would have to get evac'd from there house. About 9 or 10pm their doorbell rang. My heart sank. I thought it was time to leave there too.. And if that's the case, then that means the fire is closer to our house, since it was coming from the North. But it was her neighbor just asking where we're going if we have to evac.. We decided to go w/ him to his command on the base across the San Diego bay. Since there are fires all over San Diego County, we figured that'd be the safest place.
About mid-night we all setteled in for the night. I didn't get much sleep, yet again. In fear that our house was gone. So much was going through my head. I was scared shitless. Our 1st house together, and we might loose everything. Then I thought of more stuff here that we forgot that means a lot to me, and almost started crying.
Tuesday was an early morning with a 2 y.o.. Luckly Will didn't have to work again. I thought for sure we weren't gonna get back to our house until at least Wednesday. I forgot shampoo and conditioner and a razor, so I ran to the store and got some. Will and I showered. And about an hour after we got out, we heard on the news that we could get back to our house. About an hour earlier, there was reports we could get in; but they were false. So this time I called around to ask. But the lines were busy at the number I needed. So since it wasn't too far, Will and I decided to pack up and go look.
I was so excited to get home. Even though we were only evac'd for 24 hours, it was long enough. Thank God the reports were right, and we got back to our house about 2pm on Tuesday. And we have been here ever since.
About 500,000 people have been evacuated in the San Diego County. Many, many homes have been lost. I am VERY greatful that I am alive, my husband is alive and we have our house and our little family. Azul is so happy to be back in her own house. Last I heard, about 50,000 people have been let back in their homes. They are finally getting the fires out of control, since the winds have died down and they have been able to get air craft in the air to drop water and other things to help contain the fire. The smoke has been horrible; And the air quality SUCKS. It's been a ghost town around here. I never thought I'd be so happy to see traffic picking back up around here. It means that things are starting to get back to normal now.
President Bush was here today because of all this. More people have been evac'd from these fires than Hurrican Katrina. Crazy huh? It's horrible.
This has been a very emotional week. And I am drained and ready for a fresh start next week.