house evacuation

when you are given a warning to pack up your home, with only enough items to last you for 72 hours, what do you take with you?  this is something we've heard time and time again, to prepare for a disaster by making a list of the most important items you will need in case you need to leave your home behind.  i never thought i would have to actually DO this.  but, here we are, evacuated from our home due to the terrible fires which have engulfed the beautiful mountains just moments from our home.  we are actually very lucky, we are only on pre-evacuations (meaning we need to be prepared but are not being forced to leave yet).  however, the smoke and ash were so bad outside that we decided to head out of town to stay with my parents.  so, not only did we pack up enough items to last 72 hours, we had to decide what things to take from our home in case there was a manditory evacuation and the risk of our home actually being burned.  what do you take?  what are the things most valuable to you? let me tell you, this is a difficult thing to decide when you are worried and a bit stressed about the situation.  my husband and i had the conversation via text message, as the bird and i were already in a car headed west with my mom and dad.  of course, we have to take our important documents and the items in our safe, the computer hard drive, the camera ... but what else?  i sat in the car and scanned through each room in our house, through my mind. 

i sent multiple texts, as i remembered things...take my pregnant belly bust hanging in the nursery, take the box of old family photos (that aren't digitally recorded), grab the baby book and my journal i've been keeping since we knew we were pregnant... what else?  it is truly and eye opening experience to go through all of these things that we own, and that i enjoy having, but realizing that when it really comes down to it...there are fewer irreplacable things that we pocess and much more "stuff" that isn't as significant. 

so many people reached out to make sure we were ok.  to move my car to safety, to make sure we had a place to stay.  thank you to everyone for their love and support.  so far, our home is ok and we are enjoying the time we have here at my parent's.  there are lots of new things for the bird to explore.   the fires are still burning.  over 350 homes have been burned.  it is a scary time, one that i never thought i would see happen.  my love and thoughts go out to everyone who has lost and suffered from the tragedy.