In a Moment..

It's been a really hot summer. Most of my friends have heard me whining about the temps and begging for snow (still begging, just sayin..). Heck, Friday we were like 105 or there abouts.. and now? In what seemed like such a monumental moment, we're only in the 80's.

The weathermen were forecasting highs only in the 90's all week. We were giddy. But this???? This is purely divine. We had lows overnight for almost 2-1/2 months at about 83 degrees. And now, today, to only have a high of 85???

In a word - Wow!

Its such a nice thing, you know.. until you look around. You can't enjoy the weather because the alerts are scrolling along the bottom of the monitor reminding you that Texas is burning. Bastrop, a little community with about 10k people lost 500 homes overnight.

The fires are out of control. Hell (appropriate, no?), the Bastrop fire jumped the Colorado River twice to continue its gleeful rampage.

My ex used to volunteer as a fireman when we were stationed at Bragg. Many a cold fall night was spent at the local station watching a bunch of dudes in blue cargo pants sporting emergency scissors and a utility belt supervise the Turkey Shoot.

Sidebar: A Turkey Shoot is a very.. very.. very.. interesting place to people watch. Especially in North Carolina. :)

Anyhow.. After years of midnight fire calls and hours spent (one time on my back in the hose bed of the big pumper - pun intended) at the station with the veteran firemen, the one thing I've learned is to appreciate the destructive nature of fire. It's almost a living, breathing demon the feeds on our lives.

Just as quickly as it comes, it goes. In just a moment, its there in all its fiery glory and the next, all is ash.

The map has DFW surrounded by fire. I'm not in any way in danger mind you. But my heart breaks for those in the way of the fire. How life altering. How devastating.

We are blessed to have the resources we have available. We are blessed to have local fire departments.. and fire departments from not so near communities.. the volunteers. the communities supporting each other.

Despite it all, we are blessed.