Farewell

Written in honor of Mr. Jack McDonald

1925-2011

It was a Thursday evening in August when the Nault invasion commenced. We were busy being charmed by the shady narrow streets  while looking for the Inn At Court Square. I spotted the small gang of McDonalds waving us up to the porch where they awaited our arrival. It was a great welcome and good start to a laid back visit to a place I’d never been, but with people who I’ve long been endeared to.

Kay and I have been friends since junior high school but my first McDonald encounter occurred at the Garden City Pool. I was 5 and Mrs. McDonald, the woman who has become a nationally renowned swimming coach, reached down and yanked me out of the water by my swim suit and lectured me on water safety. The woman is, and always has been formidible.

Kay has proven to be a life long bosom buddy although we lost touch with each other for a good long while. Back in June, she issued a casual invite for me to swing by Virginia to see her and her family. I’m not sure if she thought I’d really take her up on it but let that be a lesson in don’t say things you don’t mean.

Dylan, Sydney & Kay, Charlottesville

Although I had not seen Mr & Mrs McDonald since they moved from Union Lake, Jack embraced our visit with great gusto and wormed his way into my 2 teenage daughters hearts. I loved the way he interacted with them, always the teacher. They may not have realized it at the time, but they were definitely being schooled.

Like many old timers, as my dad likes to call himself, you could see he had gotten set in his ways. I’m old enough to appreciate that. Jack was truly a life long intellectual explorer who loved to share his knowledge. Not in a boorish way, he was inquisitive and interested in the places my life had taken me since I had last seen him.

We discussed old times, Garden City, the families we were both so proud of. I was an intent listener as he bragged about his wife, his kids and grandchildren. I encouraged him to update his musical repertoire with some Beatles. He was fascinated by my new  talents related to blogging and social media. We exchanged our “contact info” and he wondered if I could give him some advice on setting up his own blog.

Let's go!

We all spent our last evening in Charlottesville attending a Charlottesville Ladies Arm Wrestling fundraiser. Our whole group, ranging from young to old made our way out into the hot, steamy night, to see some pretty theatrical arm wrestling. It was crowded and sticky in the tent but we laughed our way through it.

attending CLAW

Returning back to the condo, one arm wrestling challenge led to another and before we knew it we had Lois demonstrating her supreme arm wrestling coaching skills while we enjoyed some blueberry pie.

Dylan & Lois wrestle it out (Lois won)

I hope I’m still having that much fun participating in new experiences when I’m in my eighties.

Upon our return to Austin, Jack was true to his word, following up with me by email, reading my stories and offering me some ego boosting feedback. I sent him pictures of their former house in Garden City, a place where I had spent a lot of time in my teenage years. Swimming in their backyard pool I learned a perfect breast stroke, but never managed the simplest synchronized swimming move.

Before Kay notified me of her father’s unexpected passing, I had been plotting how I could eek out another invite next summer and time my visit to coincide with Jack and  Lois’s travel. I am saddened by the reality of how that won’t be possible now.

Last summer, I could have made a hundred excuses to bypass Virginia and  to go straight to Asheville to see my dad. I could have rationalized that I could do the trip next summer when we weren’t so worn out. Having already driven close to 6000 miles on the summer road trip, our itinerant lifestyle was beginning to wear on all of us.

Today, I am so thankful I followed my gut and drove the extra miles to visit Kay, Leslie, Candace, Lois and Jack in Charlottesville this past summer. It leaves me with a very special memory I would have otherwise missed out on.

John (Jack) McDonald

1925-2011

Intellectual motivator

Entertainer

Educator

Husband

Father

Grandfather

Freind

Is Justin Timberlake The New Take Home Chef?

Jordan asked Justin Timberlake to show her a certain dance move from his Like I Love You music video. She had a big presentation to a financial institution she was preparing for and she was sure if she busted out a move it would sell her investment strategy. She was dressed for a run in a t-shirt, shorts and her new Heidi Klum shoes.

In reality, my oldest daughter Jordan does maintain a pretty rigorous work out schedule including running. Holding a Principal position at a major consulting firm she often leads presentations to companies who have large investment portfolios. If she really busted out a move during one it would probably be the first time in the history of the corporate boardroom.

 She inquired of JT, how do you do that thing with your feet? JT, who was sitting in the yard by her, reached over and moved her feet with his hands to demonstrate.He turned to my son, Michael and said, "do you have that song?" Michael scrolled through the iTunes a put on something similar, but not by JT.

I turned and shot him the death stare which was really non verbal communication for: “Justin Timberlake is here in our yard and you put on a sound alike? Put on one of my JT cd’s”.

The smell of smoke drifted through our yard and JT said, “ I feel like ribs. I make great ribs. If I can borrow your car I’ll run to the grocery and get some cooking supplies.” I handed the keys to my freshly waxed 2011 Ford Edge. I wanted to ask him if he wanted me to tag along but I didn’t.

He started the car. I came out to show him how to work “my Ford Touch” but I couldn’t find him. Then I heard the car driving down the street with the music blaring, so I guessed he figured it out on his own.

Then we realized we needed baking potatoes. I wanted to call or send a text but what normal person had Justin’s cell phone number?

Then I thought of a very gifted child hood schoolmate, Louis Resto. He’s got a Grammy and an Oscar for his song writing with and for Eminem, surely he has JT’s number.No answer.

In reality, I am a huge Justin Timberlake fan. I do own a 2011 Ford Edge. I did go to school in Garden City and was a friend of Luis Resto's big brother Mario. Their whole family was quite musical and have made successful careers for themselves and still live in the Detroit area. I just remember Luis as Mario's little bro who got shooed away when the big kids were hanging out.

Where is Curtis Stone, The Take Home Chef when you need him? So I got in the other car, thinking I would go get the potatoes myself. Driving out of the subdivision I spotted black smoke billowing in the sky from a wildfire. The further I drove I noted several small fires around.

I should have been freaked out, given the recent wildfire disasters this season. But I reasoned that since it was not a windy day the likely hood of the fires growing out of control was slim. Then I saw flying embers landing on lawns and  scantily dressed people were running around quickly stomping them out.

In reality, this Midwestern girl has been officially freaked out by the recent wildfires in Austin. I've gotten way more up close and personal with the phenomenon than I ever planned. Fire period has always scared me. I don't even like to light matches. During the fires we experienced in this hellishly hot, drought ridden state I felt like the whole place could burst into flames with the slightest provocation.

Realizing my family was at home with no vehicles (I had one, Justin had the other) I decided  to turn around to make my way home, in case we were evacuated again.  Just then I came upon a couple of baby deer all snuggled beside the road sleeping like a bunch of curled up cats, exhausted from running from the small fires.

When I got home the van lines was parked across the driveway, loading up.

Now doesn’t that just figure!? A moving truck is loading up all of our household belongings. Meanwhile Justin Timberlake is on his way back to my house with ribs to barbecue just when Michael got the right CD playing. Don't load that Weber grill, what ever you do.

The only way this impromptu dinner party could get any more complicated is if those spotty wildfires flare up and merge and head towards the whole kitten caboodle.

Back in the day we called that Dream Weaving, made famous by then (1970's) foxy Gary Wright. No market grabbing name change for this guy, there were just too many musical "Garys" in that era. Not to be confused with my 8th grade boyfriend, Gary DiGeorgio.

In reality, I'm not sure why my older kids were in my dream about Austin, since they live in Chicago. I do know I desperately miss them at times since we moved far far away.

I have no idea why Justin Timberlake happens to be in my yard, or where the car he must have came in is. This is Austin after all, not NYC. He couldn't have taken the subway.

I have seen deer curled up like kittens sleeping by the road, but that would have been in Northern Michigan on a lakeside road.

And believe me when I say I'd love for the Justin Timberlake to come show my buttoned up business daughter a few moves she could bust out during a board meeting and get the  corporate investing community buzzing.

I have no doubt JT knows a little something about serving up great ribs since opening Southern Hospitality in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

In reality, I don't usually remember dreams, and have no idea what dream interpretation really means. I can see how all of the things floating around my brain mix together to make a pretty disjointed  but fun story.

At least I didn't wake up on Dexters table getting all Dexterized.

Move Over FEMA...There's A New Kid In Town

And it’s called Social Media...

Before the first FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) boots hit the ground in Texas, during the wildfire crisis, Facebook was there. Along with the use of personal technology, Twitter and various forms of Social Media.

Sunday, September 4th the neighborhood in which we live now (roughly 4000 homes) was evacuated due to a wildfire that was swept from the other side of a major highway by the high winds we were experiencing. Combine that with the record setting drought, it became a season of devastating fires in Texas.

It was jolting and bewildering for a Midwesterner. But I became an eyewitness to an amazing effort of self preservation and neighbor taking care of neighbor made possible through Facebook. Our neighborhood, Steiner Ranch, already had it’s own Facebook page that many of the residents were familiar with.

What was really striking was how the “Social Committee” page quickly became utilized for emergency relief during a crisis. By being able to gather information via the boots on the ground and relay them to the residents at large in “real time”, a highly effective community effort was launched to meet the practical needs of thousands of people who had been scattered due to the massive evacuation.

Yes, many of us were monitoring the local news stations for updates. Soon it became apparent that the networking being done via Twitter and Facebook proved to be more up to the minute than the news media or government could ever be. Within hours of the evacuation, community organizations and local churches began mobilizing resources to lend assistance.

This is not an effort to knock any of our first responders, the fire department, the sheriff’s department who all worked heroically to deal with a wildfire that was so out of control. They were amazing. Sadly,one constable lost his life in the effort. To complicate their efforts further, there was a limited water supply available to fight the fire in this drought parched region.

There were multiple fires within a 25 mile radius of Austin that had basically ignited that afternoon and were spread by the extreme hot, dry winds. Local resources were stretched very thin. Although the Steiner Ranch fire ended up destroying roughly 25 homes, and damaging another 30, the fires that burned in nearby towns were far worse.

The next day, Monday (Labor Day) the fire was 0 % contained but firefighters were able to divert the flames from spreading to more homes. The green space (maybe I should say brown space) still burned acre after acre and proved to be unpredictable.

As told by several news agencies, one resident borrowed a bike and made his ways via trails with his phone and camera, into the effected parts of the large housing development to survey what was really happening. He rode street by street documenting homes that had been destroyed, those that had sustained damage and those in direct peril should the fire head back towards more homes.

Working in tandem with his neighbor who was waiting with his computer, Google maps, and our Facebook page open the men collected data and began sharing it. One was “the eyes” the other the “keyboard”.

And the information, video and pictures were eerie and shocking while at the same time comforting to the majority of residents whose homes were being kept safe by the firefighters. It was definitely surreal seeing live video of a cul-de-sac where some homes were destroyed while others were actively on fire and there were no emergency  vehicles  in sight (because they were busy holding the fire-line from spreading to the next street).

Of course, the FB page was not considered an “official” source for information. People could comment freely, give their opinions, ideas and submit requests. Not every single bit of information was vetted before folks “shared” it but overall, it worked.

The Red Cross volunteers quickly set up the closest high school as an emergency shelter. The ability of our local community to identify and address many concerns through technology meant that some government resources could be diverted to harder hit areas where fires were more widespread.

Because the fires occurred on a holiday weekend a number of residents were not at home when the evacuation occurred and barred from entering when they arrived. Some pets were in homes now left unattended.

There was simply no way that local and even state agencies could address these urgent needs. As heartbreaking as some of the situations were the local officials had to work on a priority basis and getting the fire under control was clearly their number one.

Neighbor to neighbor care blossomed in the midst of this emergency, much of it facilitated through Facebook. Needs and concerns were shared, those who had any power to meet them did. Sometimes that meant an emergency worker, in contact with a neighborhood liaison, would break a window to bring out a stranded dog. But it worked. Like a charm.

By Tuesday morning, most of the residents whose homes were directly affected already knew what to expect. Our Facebook page shifted into another gear and began letting the rest of the community know the ongoing needs of not only residents, but of the firefighters themselves.

Chain saws, tools, food, gatorade, water, eye drops and a host of other supplies appeared at staging centers for the emergency workers. They only had to express a need and it was met. A few local residents even went to firefighters homes to feed and care for their pets when they were unable to return home during their brief rest periods.

Some 3500 residents were following all of this in “real time”. The generosity of nearby communities were showered upon our neighborhood. The same day residents were allowed to return, local church groups drove the neighborhoods and knocked on doors with offers of hot meals, man power, offers to collect and dispose of food that had spoiled while the power was out.

It was a humbling thing to observe. It gave us an appreciation of how generous our fellow man can be. The community at large didn’t wait for an agency to come in and take care of them. Through initiative, we were all able to express our collective needs and participate in helping our neighbor.

Our local firehouse was so overwhelmed with donations, food, supplies they had to issue of plea for people to stop bringing them stuff. They had no more room to store it! Within a few days the overflow of donated items began being diverted to nearby localities where the destruction and damage was much more widespread.

I realize that this story is emminating from a relatively affluent neighborhood. We have a plethora of highly educated, technology savvy individuals who are used to taking charge. It’s much more realistic to be able to respond when you have the resources and experience to do so. Many communities with different levels of socio-economics may not have the resources available that I saw in action here.

We may have left our homes with 15 minutes notice bringing what we could throw in our car, but most of us had the luxury of credit cards in our pockets. I realize in that is not always the case. But everyone has the opportunity to be generous with whatever resources they do have.

It’s a mindset, or maybe a heart set and not necessarily how much credit you have or what your bank account balance is.

There are some strong opinions out there regarding Facebook. I have been told, quite sanctimoniously by some that “I’m not on Facebook, I don’t have time for games or talking to people whose phone numbers I don’t have”. It kind of reminds me when popular actors go on Oprah and make comments like, “ oh, I don’t watch television, I am always occupied with my craft”.

I utilize FB to expand my world, keep in touch with people I care about and that is my choice. The thing you should know, is you don’t have to be on FB to make use of it. Many communities, companies and organizations have Facebook pages that can be accessed by the public. Even without having a personal account.

I am thinking there are more than a few of my fellow residents who learned exactly how this all works during our recent crisis. They too may have never have been on Facebook before our fire, but have quickly found out it’s a powerful tool whose time is here.
 

The Whole Enchilada

Yesterday I was grocery shopping and I thought, 31 years ago today I was waddling around Hudson's baby department with my mom and Aunt Pat and my water broke. Even though I was a Labor & Delivery nurse at the time I didn't know what it all really felt like. I had a lot more compassion when I returned to work 4 months later.

Jordan, 7 hours old

31 years ago today, when I thought it was never going to be over, I squatted beside my hospital bed and felt her head woosh down. Five minutes later I was looking into the face of a baby that looked like an Asian to me, chubby cheeks and a head full of dark hair. I thought "that can't be my baby".

I was expecting a fair skinned, blond and bald baby. That's what the babies in my family tend to look like. I looked at my husband, my high school sweet heart and thought he looked like he was in total shock. He looked at me and choked out the words, "we can name her whatever you want". What a man.

We had been debating names for months. He liked Kristen for a girl. I wanted Jordan, inspired by a female character in  the F Scott Fitzgerald book The Great Gatsby. I liked that it was unusual and gender neutral. I liked the idea that as an adult that people would see her name as an author, or on a resume and not be able to know her sex. Jordan Warren Nault. Warren being my maiden name.

The first clue that this could be problematic was when her birth certificate arrived and identified her as "male". In this mornings birthday email I said:

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL.

Your Dad wanted to name you Kristen. How heinous my anus would that have been. It wouldn't have fit you at all. That would have been so pedestrian and run of the mill, which we all know you are not.

Enjoy your last hour of only being 30, because technically you won't be 31 until 11:40 a.m.

Love you like CRAZY.  Mom

**************

Jordan and her favorite person

It didn't take long to realize that Jordan and her grandma were soul mates. I went back to work and my mom did a lot of Jordan raising for the first 5 years. Pretty much a day didn't go by that Jordan didn't spend time with Bette. Jordan did everything early: she walked, she talked, she sang, she acted, she potty trained, learned her letters, colors, numbers all at an amazing rate. It was all my mom.

When she was 4, I came home from work and my mom said she'd been watching a program on gifted children on TV. She said, " Jordan can do all the things those children they had on that program could do, and they were all older than her"!  OK mom.

The next day I was reading the notes (upside down) the pediatrician was writing and it said: smart, sassy, precocious 4 year old with a remarkable vocabulary. Identified and spelled colors. Spelled all family members names....

Looking back at the past 31 years, I'd have to say my mother was exactly right. If we overlook a small period of her life when she devoted a lot of time to....cheer leading, she's had a brilliant run so far.

In high school I begged and bribed her to join the basketball team. Her response: "mom, my gift is in academics". She went to high school with some awfully smart people, and she graduated #3 in her class (tied with her 2 best friends).

At the University of Michigan she excelled while testing her new freedoms from her conservative family. I said,"you are smart enough to achieve anything you want to. But please major in something practical, that will make you employable".

She insisted on majoring in something she had a passion for. That was Russian & Eastern European Studies which included living in Russia in 2001. She performed very well and graduated in the top of her class. But, I was right, despite all of that she had a hard time translating that into a career.

It turns out that Jordan was also gifted in some other areas. Ambition, determination, humility and a willingness to work hard and think outside of the box. She proved herself right, in that she took her education and molded it to equip herself for a brilliant business career.

Her current employer, after only one year in New York decided she was worth investing in. Once she got herself accepted into several of the top MBA programs, they moved her kit and caboodle to Chicago to attend University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Jordan & her stuffy company mentors at her recent graduation party

For the first time in her life she didn't graduate at the top of her class. As a matter of fact U of C's Booth School of Business kicked her ass. It was the first educational venue that wasn't a piece of cake for her. She was in a program with some of the most brilliant quantitative minds around.

But, here's the thing that doesn't show up on her credentials. She is the whole enchilada. What she has that many of her peers don't is life experience that was vast. A grandmother who thought she was the smartest thing as sliced bread. The oldest child of 6, who's spent her fair share of time caring for babies, dealing with stubborn toddlers, to handling freak-outs from her now teenage sisters.Living in Russia, traveling Europe, making mistakes, surviving several personal and family crisis, excelling in the workplace.

There were many of her peers in grad school who could run circles around her academically, but Jordan can walk into a real world business situation and rule. She can articulate her ideas with grace, charm stuffy heads of investment funds who give her gruff. She can implement all the things she's learned from life, her family, her friends and her educational opportunities and succeed.

Oh, and lest I forget her secret weapon:

Jordan, with Hailey, Dylan & Sydney

Which is: Power Puff Power

Out Of The Frying Pan...Into The Fire

Mental Checklist:

-Lockbox containing birth certificates & important papers
-Medications
-130 pound dog
-24 pound dog
-5 pound kitten
-pet food
-litter box
-my bible
-clean underwear & pjs
-hair straightener & make up
-Girard 2009 Cabernet and a corkscrew
-dinner we just cooked but don’t have time to eat
-computers, camera, phones & chargers.

Although I haven’t actively worked as a nurse in 20 years, I think my medical training conditioned me to react calmly and methodically in a crisis. I began making this mental list in my head before I even believed we’d have to evacuate. I don’t get riled up very easily.

When the kids came running downstairs and out the front door saying they could see lots of smoke billowing above the trees from the window upstairs, I sauntered out the door and was hit in the face by the high winds carrying the smoke.

OK, this is something new to a girl from the Great Lakes state. The smoke was quite a distance away so I was concerned but not nervous. Our 14 year old ran upstairs and 4 minutes later she thumped her way back down, her hands full of the kitten zipped into her carrier and her new clothes draped over her arm. Ready. To. Go.

Some of the neighbors on our street were in a tizzy, throwing items in their cars as fast as they could. Across the street they were taking their valuable paintings off their walls and hauling them into their autos. I thought they were over reacting. The fire seemed quite far away. It would have to burn through hundreds of homes before any of ours were hit.

But, in the back of my mind I was getting that inkling of claustrophobia, being stuck in what I knew would be a traffic jam on the one road out of here. It bothered me that 4000 homes needed to be evacuated by one avenue of egress.

Just then, the appliances beeped. Everything went dark and silent as the power went out.

Then we got word from the neighbors: we have to leave. Mandatory evacuation order.

That mental list came in handy as I calmly and efficiently collected the items to be packed into our 2 cars. Our niece (who was lucky enough to be over for dinner) is a native Texan. I watched her face for a signs of distress. Kind of like when I’m on a plane experiencing turbulence, before I let myself freak out I watch the flight attendants faces for my cue.

I refused to let myself get upset. In fact, I was feeling annoyed that I would be missing the NASCAR  race. I really didn’t think our house would burn. We simply didn’t have room to take art work and boxes full of photo albums so I wasn't going to dwell on it.

We sent the girls off in one car with the cat and one dog. Bye Bye. Keep us posted. We’ll be right behind you. Then my niece took her 2 children and left. We got word that they had closed the highway to south traffic because the fire was so close to the road. The traffic headed north was completely at a crawl.

I put in a little more hustle into loading the car.

Raymondo: “Lets take this lunch meat and cheese and fruit”. Into the box it goes.

Now, I’m getting antsy to go. I’m deathly afraid of fire and I don’t want to be fried like a crispy critter as we drive by the area where the fires are at. My mind starts racing...it’s possible these high winds could blow this fire right across the road. I've watched enough Rescue Me to have some idea of the unpredictability of fire.

My husband is dawdling. He doesn’t want to take his famous BBQ chicken off the grill till it’s done. He's stalling, going through his own mental checklist: replace some light bulbs, turn up the thermostats, make sure all the lights are off, all the toilets are flushed.

Where is that ass kicking Dennis Leary when you need him?

I’m like, “COME ON ALREADY! For Gods sake, this is how Hailey ended up being born in the car on the way to the hospital! You were messing around trying to eat lasagne before we left.”

The smoke was definitely getting worse. Finally I convinced the dawdler to get his butt in the car. We had to also fit the Big Black Bastard, Cole into the car. What sane people have a dog as big as a bear? Pulling out of the driveway it looked like most of our neighbors had gone already. We turned onto Quinlan Park Drive and started heading out towards the fire.

Half way out

Stuck in a long line we waited to exit. I looked to my left to see smoke with an orange glow in several different areas. It was still a long way from where our home is, but it was alarming to see how much land this wildfire was covering, and how fast as it was being spread by the high winds. Every thing is so dry, just a spark blown by the wind would instantly ignite when it drops onto the brown crunchy brush.

Waiting to get out

We were humbled by what we saw as we made our way out in bumper to bumper traffic. No way we were getting back in here in a few hours like our neighbors had speculated.  Helicopters carrying huge containers of water & fire retardant flew back and forth dumping the contents on the homes that were now on fire. Sirens were blaring. From our perspective on the road out we could see lots of smoke above the trees, but not much of the actual fire.

But over the hill and a bit down the canyon it looked like this:

It took some time but we reached the main road, but it too was bumper to bumper cars. We crept along for the next 3 miles to a main intersection and took the long way around to our designated meet up spot, my sister in laws house.

Photo: by Laurie Scott

Safely tucked in about 9 miles away, we ate a late dinner and watched non stop news coverage of not only our neighborhood, but several other wildfires that had broken out around Austin. Meanwhile firefighters, wearing full gear in 98 degree weather worked to try to gain some control of this runaway blaze.

But the winds would not co-operate. I woke up early the next morning and turned on the news, which was not good. At least 25 homes had been burned to the ground and at least 30 more severely damaged. The fire was only about 10% contained. The fires burning in nearby Bastrop were totally out of control burning at least 350 homes. Another fire burned just west of the Perdenales River. Austin's fire resources were being stretched very thin.

Facebook had a page where we could get current information. There I found this heartbreaking video of some men who went in to check on their homes. The video is so compelling CNN picked it up so I can not embed it here but you can click on the link.

If you watch the video you will find  a surreal account of some men trying check on the homes on their street. Some houses have totally burned at this point, some are actively on fire, but you see no emergency personnel anywhere. They could not stay here to save these homes because they had to establish a line of defense to keep the fire from overtaking the next street.

Tuesday afternoon they issued the OK for residents to return to their homes. Unfortunately 25 families had nothing left to return to. Another 30 came home to various degrees of fire or water damage. I have not personally viewed the streets where the homes were destroyed, out of respect for the privacy of those who lost so much.

All that's left

Footprints to be greatful for

One of my favorite pictures, with commentary by the homeowner were of the muddy firefighter footprints in one of the houses that were saved. The home, along the line of defense established by the firemen, was damaged by the fire but these footprints represent the work done that day in saving the next 300 homes in the line of the fire.

For most of us the event nothing more than a frightening annoyance. We returned to intact homes with some spoiled food to throw out. For some it was a time of devastation. One first responder lost his life after experiencing a cardiac event during the crisis in our neighborhood. In the other fires in Central Texas over 1500 homes and literally miles of land were consumed by the fire.

Anyone who follows my blog knows that Texas and I have been mostly at odds with each other since our move here last year. Our subdivision is enormous and non descript. We have often joked that it reminds us of the California area named Agrestic, depicted in the popular Showtime series Weeds. That subdivision also succumbs to fire. But my name is not Nancy, I don't sell marijuana and although our neighborhood truly does resemble Agrestic that is where the similarities end.

Through this crisis I have come to appreciate that our neighborhood has a lot of heart, and is full of many generous, caring people. We have more that our fair share of "doers". From the start social media was utilized to disseminate vital information and organize folks who wanted to help in any way they could. There has been an out pouring of neighbor to neighbor help like I have never seen.

There was instant networking by several local churches, bringing in volunteers to provide shelter, food, clothing, to help with pets stuck inside the neighborhood during the evacuation. Upon returning to our home, which was not in the fire zone, we had 3 different volunteers ring our doorbell to see if there was anything we needed. They even offered to take our spoiled food and dispose of it.

Residents have organized to provide everything from food, gatorade, eye drops, clean socks, gloves to tools and chainsaws to our fire house. After a few days they had to issue pleas via Facebook to not bring anything else to the station because they had run out of room to store things.

Other residents are busy collecting and distributing donated items to not only our neighborhood, but to victims of other nearby fires. In a brilliant example of neighbor to neighbor help some are organizing a "meet the deductible" drive to provide money to the affected homeowners to meet their deductibles and help in their recovery efforts. Everyone whose home was spared is more than happy to demonstrate gratefulness by helping those who lost their homes.

It makes me proud to be living in a neighborhood of people who rise to the occasion of organizing and executing help for their neighbors instead of waiting for the government to come to their aide.