Fires

The fires were really bad here on Monday and I couldn't get home from work. Only one road was open going south, but it was a parking lot from all the traffic fed from I-95. I took another road east and thought I could take my country road south, but could only get so far. The sheriff deputies were stopping people and not letting them through because of the dangerous, smoky conditions. I stopped to visit a friend in the neighborhood and sat with him on his porch. We could hear the helicopters bringing water to the fires; could see and smell the smoke and see the ashes coming into his porch. Later, my husband came to get me on his 4-wheeler and told me to follow him home. Once I was home, I was nervous about the fires coming into our yard. My anxiety reminded me of the hurricanes. We had the water sprinklers going to protect our yard from burning embers. At 8:00 pm, our power went off until about midnight.
Two homes were burned to the ground just 1-1/2 miles north of us. I drove by them and many burned woody areas on the way to work. The charred woods are an unimaginable devastation to the wildlife and rural living in this neighborhood. We're so blessed that we did not have any fires close by.
I saw fire trucks driving down our roads from cities as far south as Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach and as far north as Jacksonville. The radio DJs were asking for donations for the fireman. They needed quick snacks, drinks and--can you believe they needed new socks and underwear? I guess you can't get that sooty smoke out of them so I donated some.
As of today, the fires are 70% contained and there's only a 20% chance of rain this weekend. So, pray for the protection of the firemen and for rain.

Fear of Flying

You never know who you're going to be sitting next to on an airplane flight. While waiting at the gate, I see boisterous children, overweight people, sickly people, etc. On a recent trip, a lady sat next to me coughing during the flight. She apologized and said she'd been to the doctor and it was only allergies. Okay. Then, on the return flight, the young woman next to me was freaking out while the plane was taking off. She was grasping the armrests, tightening her legs and mumbling under her breath all while wearing sunglasses. I noticed she had bad teeth and thought she might be under the influence of crystal meth. I started wondering what she was going to do next--vomit, jump out of her seat or what? So, I touched her arm and asked if she was okay. She said she hated flying, especially the take-off. So, I tried to reassure her that it would be fine and we'd be in the air shortly. Once we were in flight, she was okay and ordered a vodka and OJ. I was wondering if that was going to be okay in her case. Then, when we got ready to land, she reacted the same way. I opened the shade and tried to talk to her to keep her mind off the situation. She told me she was going to see her brother graduate from Emery-Riddle and he was going to be a pilot. He wanted to take her up in a small plane, but she refuses. She needs a lot more practice. Once we landed, she said she wanted to kiss the ground and thanked me for helping her through it. I can't imagine being afraid to fly. It's an amazing technology.