Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
An Awake Nightmare
My daughter sends pictures of the sky in California. She says she can smell the fires. And that she and her husband have decided to never leave their home unattended. You know, just in case.
The heavy fire air of California brings a new, thick layer of hardship to my daughter and her family – her 7-year old twin boys and 16-year old daughter, along with all their neighbors and friends who now keep their eyes trained on the east while they adjust their masks to go to the store for groceries.
I want to tell them to come to Wisconsin. It is raining here. Sometimes there is too much snow and, in some years, there are tornadoes but always out in the country, not here in the city. We have lakes, big ones that sometimes look like oceans except that they aren’t. That’s a deal-killer for some.
My daughter, a former newspaper reporter, covered fires in California. In fact, for many years, she had a cat named Smokey, a little gray singed cat that she rescued from the side of the road while driving away from a fire, the smoke and red sky in her rearview mirror. So I know she is mindful and competent, that she, of all people, will be prepared, have everything in order should her family need to flee.
Still, I think, come home. We have extra rooms. We will find you a place, enroll your kids in school, bring you casseroles every night until you get settled. I could fuss over you. But not until you quarantine or get tested. There’s still that.
It is best to joke. So I tease that after the pandemic and fires will come locusts. And I act like we can all ‘shake if off’ like a batter hit with a errant pitch. Rub some dirt on it. Get back in the game. Just another day in the life.
But it isn’t. It’s a nightmare.
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Photo by Sergio Torres on Unsplash
9 Comments on “An Awake Nightmare”
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
It has been a tough month for people living on the west coast. The fires in some areas are terrible.
It’s incredible. And hard to imagine for someone living in the Midwest.
I know it snows in the winter in the Midwest
Having spent most of my life in Oregon I talk regularly with friends there. The smoke is making them sick. That is the ones that didn’t have to evacuate. I hope your daughter and kids stay safe.
Thanks. So far so good. But, boy, is it ever scary.
It certainly is that.
No matter how old they are, we still want to care for our kids. I hope your family and everyone in the fire’s line stay safe.
As you know, the smoke is damaging and deadly, Jan. As someone who is still suffering the affects of smoke inhalation six months after the Australian bushfires, I think your idea for your daughter and her family to travel to you is a good one, provided she can do that safely of course. I’m a bit of a catastrophiser, but I can’t help feeling we are now living the nightmare that has been predicted for many years. Winter will be there soon. Your daughter sounds sensible. She should leave early if she has to evacuate. Fire fighters do a great (and dangerous) job, but they can’t be everywhere at once.
A nightmare indeed, a horrible year. Hope you and your family remain well and safe.