Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

I guess you can never get too comfortable--or watch out!

May began with a handful of hotter than normal days--nothing above 100 degrees, mind you, but San Diego is famous for it's temperate 72 degree days. There were fire warnings scattered around, but we just laughed at them--if you go a few miles inland, you run into some dry areas, but Carlsbad is lush and green and had just come off the yearly tulip festival.

Well, one Wednesday morning as I was driving back from dropping Asher off at school, I noticed some smoke coming from an area just north of us. I mentioned it to Aaron when I got home, since Asher's school is in that general direction and I figured we should pay attention to it. I sat down to get some work done when we heard fire engines . . . not far away at all. Then a facebook post from a friend (whose husband is a fire fighter) popped up with a picture of smoke at a park just down the street. Getting a little more worried, I went outside. I couldn't see anything, but I could smell smoke. Just then I overheard a conversation down the street about a fire and asked about it. The elementary school closest to our own was being evacuated. Because of the wind, a rather big fire was developing from a spark at the newly opened park less than a mile from our house! Having not grown accustomed to fire culture in southern California, I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry. I made Aaron start packing up our essential documents and computer drives, and I went straight down to our kids' elementary school. The office was already crowding with parents taking their kids out for the day, but luckily I was there before it got too crazy. I picked up the three younger kids, called Aaron and sent him up to pick up Asher (as the fire in that area had picked up steam as well). My phone battery was dying (one of those times I really wished I was better at keeping it charged like I should), so Aaron and I made quick plans to meet at our church parking lot. When I got there with the kids, we could see smoke billowing closer and closer, so we took off for another location further away--I had to send Aaron the info with the last few texts I had left on an old cell phone.

When we finally got together, we decided to blow off the rest of the day and head to Sea World together. We ended up having a fantastic day, though we were worried and concerned the whole time. The news just kept getting worse and worse, and video images that popped up online featured landmarks very close to home. Neighborhoods all around us were evacuated, including most of the students in our school district when an additional fire started on the other side of the hill.

Somehow we ended up sandwiched right between the two fires and were free to return home for the night. That night was a sleepless one. Every news report was increasingly dire as neighborhood homes went up in smoke. By some freak stroke of luck, the wind for the earlier fire blew out toward the coast (away from us), and the wind during the later fire blew inland (away from us again). Homes were evacuated from one street west of us and one street north of us, and again several streets south of us, but we got to stay home. By the next morning we learned that school would be cancelled for the rest of the week

Though unexpected, we made the most of the days off.  On Thursday I took the kids to the beach, where they had an amazing time even though there was smoke billowing up and down the coast. Lots of families had come up with the same idea we had, so the ocean was crowded with kids. The best bit of the afternoon was when Emerson was out waist-deep in the waves, and an unfamiliar face popped out near his--a sea lion! It was no more than a few feet away from him, and seemed very interested and curious about all the children. Several other children noticed it swimming as well, so a clump of about 10-15 kids ran along the beach for about a quarter of a mile, just laughing and waving to the sea lion. After everyone was thoroughly sandy and salty (but thankfully not sunburned), we rinsed off as well as we could with water bottles and headed home. The next day I was sort of over having the kids at home, so I parked them at the neighborhood pool and managed to read half a book and strike up conversations with a bunch of other moms in the neighborhood who had come up with the same idea. The air was full of smoke and ash, but everyone seemed to have a pretty nice time anyway. The worst part was when we met a family who had just seen their neighbor's house go down--the neighbor was on vacation and was destined to come home to a pile of ash where their house had been.

By the weekend, no new fires had started and the firefighters had gotten a handle on the ones already burning. It was  heart-breaking to read the stories coming out from families that actually lost their homes, but it was also awe-inspiring to read accounts of neighbors who had hosed down friends houses to save them and fire-fighters who worked through the night to put the fires out. Roads were closed off all over, and as they slowly started opening again, it was awesome in the worst way to see the green hillsides turned to ash.

Once the fires were finally out, life resumed for most of us. Having decided that we should make the most of our time here in California, since we really don't know how long it will last, we embraced some opportunities to "staycation" around town. Aaron got us tickets to see Billy Joel at the Hollywood Bowl, a dream of mine for I don't know how long--since I was in high school at least--and we drove up one Thursday night for it. Rather than leaving the kids with someone and getting back at all hours of the morning, we decided to give the kids a bit of fun as well. Since they have all been reading their hearts out for our family Book of Mormon challenge (more on that later), we snagged some tickets to Disneyland as well, but didn't tell them about it. On Thursday night we left them at the hotel with a movie while Aaron and I sneaked out for the concert.

What a concert! However good I expected it to be, my expectations were met and exceeded. I have always appreciated Billy Joel's use of classical and pop references in his songs, and he added a huge dose of that to his concert. There were at least a dozen musical references slipped in, from Schubert's eighth symphony to Beethoven's op. 13 sonata to Elvis to Paul McCartney to his buddy Elton John. My favorite joke of the night was when he talked about the double concerts he and Elton John have performed, and started to play a bit of my favorite "Your Song." He started out: "It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside. I'm not one of those who can easily hide. I don't have much money, but . . . bull$*!# . . . trust me, he has plenty of money!" Since I actually do know the words to almost all his songs (with the exception of We Didn't Start the Fire, which I always think I've got until I try to sing it by myself), I couldn't really help singing along to pretty much everything, marveling anew at how really fantastic both the lyrics and the music are to his songs. Some particular highlights for me  were An Italian Restaurant, The Entertainer, and Summer, Highland Falls. Mostly it was just amazing seeing someone who has been at this business for as long as he has, still really embracing the opportunity to be on the stage, sharing amazing music with the world. It was definitely a night to remember.

The next morning, I told the kids that I had seen a sign along the road for a place that was selling cocounts 2/$1. Since Emerson has asked frequently since we moved here if we could buy a coconut, I told them this would be a great time to try it. We made a number of wrong turns, eventually landing on Disneyland Drive. Finally, confused about where the coconut shop had gotten to, we pulled into the Disneyland parking lot to turn around. Only we didn't turn around. Aaron paid $17 for us to park there! It was great fun watching the kids' expressions change from confusion to excitement as they figured out what we were really doing. We boarded the Disneyland tram at 8 am and following Aaron's carefully mapped out schedule, managed to enjoy all the best rides, shows, and activities without ever waiting in a line for more than 20 minutes. The highlights for everyone were as follows: Asher--Autopia, Addy--Splash Mountain, Emerson--Splash Mountain, Sera--Small World, Aaron & Britt--kids' faces as we entered the park.

So back to that Book of Mormon challenge. As I mentioned back in January or February or whenever I finally buckled down and made a decision about it, our theme this year is "Come Follow Me." It occurred to me one afternoon in church that despite the fact that we theoretically read the Book of Mormon together regularly as a family, the number of days that happens tends to be limited to days when we aren't running behind, when lunches get made before the kids are scrambling out of the door, when nobody is fighting over the breakfast table, and when jobs aren't being checked and re-checked by me in the moments before the kids leave. Which actually tends to be less days than one might hope. Because of this, despite the fact that we last began the Book of Mormon together as a family in approximately 2009, we were/are still somewhere in Ether. Not bad. But not very good. I am the kind of person who really likes getting into the story of whatever book I'm reading, and no matter the book, it's pretty hard to get a good feel for the story when you spread its reading out over several years. So even though there are some really good, inspiring, up-lifting verses to be found by the 1/2-page/day method, I knew that none of our kids were really connecting with the overarching story of the book. On the first Sunday in May, I decided to challenge everyone to read the entire Book of Mormon on their own before school let out for the year--only 5 weeks away. Aaron looked at me aghast on hearing this challenge, and later told me it was maybe crazy. I agreed with him, but asked what would be the worst that could happen? We'd need to extend the deadline to the end of the summer? I printed out charts for everyone to keep track of their progress, and then stepped back to watch. It was amazing! The kids really embraced the challenge, reading several chapters at a time. Our sacrament meeting attendance this month has been quieter than it has ever been before, as the kids bury themselves in chapter after chapter of Nephi, Mosiah, and Alma. I've had to work to keep up myself, and have been reminded anew what a really epic story The Book of Mormon actually tells. We've had some great discussions about various episodes along the way, and I've appreciated having this chance, early in my kids' lives, to let them know that I too think it's pretty crazy that Nephi kills Laban and there is some pretty blatantly racist talk that goes on in some bits. The most important message I want them to learn not only about the Book of Mormon, but also about other books of scripture, is that they are all, all compiled by men. No matter what percentage of the writings might be inspired by God, man has a unique ability to skew things along the way, and that just because men are imperfect, that doesn't mean that learning to develop their own spiritual connection to God and ability to listen to personal guidance and promptings is diminished--if anything, it is increased! I so appreciate having this opportunity to share such thoughts and feelings, near and dear to my heart as they are, with my children while they are young..

To close, there are a couple of quick grown-up achievements to tout, and a couple of hilarious kid anecdotes to share. First, Aaron is nearing completion of his first year as artistic director for the San Diego Children's Choir, and he has made enormous contributions to the organization that should not be overlooked. Second, this month I finished writing up the lesson plans for year 1 of KinderKeys classes and am now ready to take the next step with them . . . whatever that is. Finally, a couple of favorites from this month have been Emerson's conversation with his Grandpa Jerry on the phone the other day. He was talking about mean me and how I didn't let him continue karate after the brief session I had signed him and Sera up for, because he thought learning karate was good for helping him defend himself against Asher. Then, when asked whether would continue, he replied "well, my mom isn't that supportive."  And from Sera: as we were driving down to Sea World one morning, she was noting the neighborhood names. She asked "why is this part called La Costa?" Addy answered with "it just is--why is Carlsbad called Carlsbad?" To which Sera replied (with the eye-roll she is perfecting) "um, because Carl is bad!" So there you have it folks, the real reasons we name things the way we do.

Here's to a beautiful (and hopefully fire-free) summer!