top of page
Search

STRENGTH

  • concretepete
  • Dec 4, 2018
  • 4 min read

Updated: Feb 1, 2021


Well.... life has a way of throwing us a few curve balls.

And sometimes those curve balls are in the form of flaming, thermonuclear,

"it's-a-miracle-if-you-survive-it-at-all" type curve balls. Serious ones. Things that either kill you, wound you, or make you stronger.

Well, I just had that particular experience just 5 days shy of being a month ago today. Every other person I've talked to for the last few weeks has asked me to describe it.

I really can't do that. Not effectively. Not in any possible way that could fully be related to by someone else.

I can try and put it in words, but no words could really enable a person to see through another's eyes, to hear the turbocharged wall of flame (LITERALLY traveling at the rate of the length of "one football field per second") and loud battlefield-like explosions, feel the jackhammer heartbeats , to be in a black, midnight-like darkness severely contrasted by a tsunami of what looked like the very surface of the Sun, or even the question of one's own intellect with each and every frenzied rush of rushing possessions from home-to-car, and the desperate thought of "How much more of your life will you risk for your possessions?" I did save some, but I lost an awful lot more of my possessions.

Admittedly- what looked like '5 more minutes of escape time' quickly became a 10 second dash. I'm stubborn, stayed until the last second, saved some possessions while watching other possessions become nothing more than memories. Stubbornness cost me a little bit of skin, but not enough to cause regret.

"Possessions"-

Something we acquire and possess for an unknown amount of time.

Well, that's pretty much my personal definition. Possessions aren't permanent.

Considering that our greatest 'possession' is LIFE, getting out of a disaster with anything more just puts it above the 100% mark. Another great 'possession' is strength. Most of our true strength comes form surviving and recovering from challenges, some comes from within us, and some comes from without. But ALL of it comes from above.

You know what I mean.-The "Big Guy Upstairs." The test of fire-1 Corinthians 3:13

Strength also comes from friends.

After spending two nights sleeping in a "compact station wagon," I came rolling up in my grayishly-discolored Toyota to my old friend and band member's home about 25 miles away from (un-burned) Chico. Taking 35-something miles of back roads and agricultural roads in 1/8 mile smoke visibility for around 5 hours landed me at an old buddy's place.

I looked like hammered shit- even more than usual. I smelled like piss on a campfire, was red-eyed, and had a car filled with 'sporting goods'- all things that would scare off any "sensible" person from offering lodging, but thankfully- having good sense isn't a prerequisite for being my friend!

Being good and humble folks, I doubt they would want their names mentioned, so I'll just call them "M&B." "M" related to me that he saw me driving up, determined that it was me, and was so happy to see me alive that he offered lodging, and insisted on it. Insisted- like true friends do. A place to stay, a daily hot shower and firm bed. Nightly dinner cooked by "M" (with a major flair for cooking). Camaraderie, generosity, and selflessness are the qualities of genuine humans. M & B are rare and exceptional examples of humanity.

This location is south of the Camp Creek Fire zone, and only had about 2-1/2 weeks of the smoke that lingered north of us in Paradise up until the much-needed rain that quenched the fire to 100% containment. What a blessing.

Speaking of blessings....... I have a beautiful, freshly remodeled, two-story, three garage, full basement, four bedroom, one bath, green-lawned, freshly purchased home in the beautiful Midwest to move to, after our local LEOS and County folks decide to let us return to our former homes to salvage what we can before moving on. It's been damn near a month now, and we're all wondering what's going on with that. (sigh)

Pretty much every huge disaster in my life has always evolved into a huge silver lining. All that's needed is a bit of patience. Patience comes from experience, wisdom, and yes- strength.

Strength, we would be nothing without it. And a funny thing about strength- we're never sure how much of it we have until the very moment we need it the most. Weird how that works, huh?

I could go into some pretty intense detail what it was like trying to escape, driving through flames, getting stuck in traffic, seeing panicked people make u-turns as an escape route becomes a deathtrap, and spending 2-1/2 hours with the uncertainty if your time was up on this Earth.

Or, I could post pictures that I took in a half-morbid mindset of fascination of what might have been my last moments during the evacuation. I could bitch about the couple of places I got singed, or the tiny bald spot where a big fat ember landed on my thick skull. But I won't. I seriously doubt I'll have any visible scars from it.

I'd rather be grateful and happy about that huge silver lining that awaits me in a few weeks.

It gives me strength just thinking about it.

Be strong.


 
 
 

Recent Posts

See All
R.I.P. USA

Well, it was great while it lasted, but America has now been TOTALLY FUCKED by the godless, Communist, "LGBTXYZ," child-molesting, evil...

 
 
 

Comments


WE ALL KNOW THE 2020 ELECTION WAS STOLEN. NEVER TRUST ANY LIBERAL ON EARTH.

bottom of page