Sept. 9th...

...this will be a date that will haunt me for a long time. I was at my girls' "back to school night," when we heard a loud "swooooosh", as if 25 Blue Angels flew right by us, followed by several booms. We ran outside to take a look. I wasn't really scared yet, just more curious...

(If you go down this street, Lindsey and Sarah live there...Karina and Amber's good friends)

We looked at the canyon behind us, and saw black smoke, followed by huge, angry, swirling flames. For a second, I thought the world was ending! I ran up to our house where the kids were. They were thinking it was an earthquake. I showed them the fire outside...

The girls were crying - they were terrified. Nick was already packing his stuff. All of our neighbors were outside - what happened? Did the gas station explode? Was it a plane crash? All I could think about was if we should leave. One of the neighbors said he was in the Oakland fires, and it is better to leave earlier, while there is time. That was enough for me - so, the kids and I packed up Rikku and her food, and many of the things we thought we would need. I made sure to turn off the crock pot on my way out. It is funny what you remember to do in situations like this.

We stayed at my parent's house. They live close by to us, but not close enough to see the flames from their window. We watched the news, stunned to see our little town of San Bruno making headlines. Then the power went off, so there was no more TV watching. Listening to the radio, it was determined that it was a gas line explosion. We looked out the window watching the mayhem - cars and traffic, people walking around in a daze, TV trucks, fire trucks and rescue vehicles, airplanes and helicopters, and the smoke...it was crazy. Finally, I got a hold of Michael, who was on his way home from work. He slowly made his way to my parents' house.

We all slept terribly, but I felt safe that on our dark street since there was a police officer car guarding the neighborhood every 8 or so houses. In the morning, we were able to return home. Our house was safe.

The fires are almost all out now. Many, many people lost their homes, and a few lost their lives, in the neighborhood next to ours. We are separated by a canyon of eucalyptus trees. If the fires made its way to the canyon, we would have been in trouble. We worried about our friends over there - we know about 6 families very well. Sarah and Lindsey - Karina and Amber's good friends, live there.

As of now, we know that they are OK and are pretty sure, by a miracle, that they still have their houses. I prayed so hard for miracles, and I think they came true. It will take a long time to rebuild this, and get over this tragedy, but our town of San Bruno is showing so much love and support for each other, that I know we will get through this. I saw a sign that said "small community, big heart." That describes this town perfectly...

*** the pictures shown here were taken by some of my friends who were near (too near!) the fire. I am happy to say that their homes are OK.