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| The View From Siena's Playroom |
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| Helicopter picking up water from the lake for a 10 second flight to the drop zone |
Last week the San Diego area suffered from a series of fires that impacted thousands of people. These fires started about 1/2 a mile from our house. As fate would have it we were all home together as they began and the processing of what do we do now was a family event. Fate also arranged for Siena's playroom to have the best view of the action. For us the story has a happy ending, the winds blew in the right direction and though we had to evacuate for a while, our home was undamaged. Not everyone was so lucky.
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| The first view from Siena's room |
While we sustained no physical damage, we are reminded that the emotional scars are sometimes worse. These fires were and are a highly emotional event for our little girl. During the event she saw too much, but how could you hide the smoke and ash falling from the sky. She could look out the window and see the fire rushing up the hillside next to her favorite playground toward the houses on the hill. In the aftermath she can see burnt out hills and houses, we really can't drive around them, as they surrounded her school. So instead we try to help her comprehend and understand, to learn and grow. It really isn't that easy.
For the first few days after the fires our mornings began with a tour of the house looking out all the windows for smoke. It took a few days before we got some clear sky's to bring the "situation" to a close. Then on to the comprehending piece. Siena is inquisitive and this one has challenged our finest parenting skills. She is afraid and has become very emotional. She spent one day taking pictures of all her toys "in case my house burns down and we need to get new ones". She thought of that herself.
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| San Marcos fire |
Then there are some pretty good and pretty deep questions. Daddy why didn't God stop the fires? This provides an "oh boy" moment. After explaining how he guided the winds to blow the fire where it would harm the fewest people and slowing it down so everyone could get away, I thought I had done well. She followed up with "Is God mad at Mother Nature?" This one required a little more honest overview of arson in 4 year old terms. I think I got Mother Nature off the hook.
Today Siena drew a picture, her version of the fire. I spent some time looking at it, as I did I realized we will need to hold her close for awhile and comfort her fears. Fire is scary.
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| Siena's "Fire" 5-21-14 |
