I've thought of you often since my last mailing which asked how do we take care of our systems during personal or collective hardship, emphasizing the importance of community and in-person time together for our emotions and nervous systems. Little did I know what was headed our way in Spokane.
This Pause is a little long because it's been awhile AND I won't be sending another Pause out for awhile after next week. I'll tell you why on 9/13!
August became a whirlwind of teaching, travel to MA, visiting family and navigating a city-wide trauma fog from unprecedented fires a few miles north of us. Over 65,000 people were forced to evacuate as three fires burned more than 10,000 acres, destroying over 800 homes in just two days. It was surreal. Fueled by 40 mph winds and record drought conditions, the fire jumped our river swiftly and burned randomly.
The smoky, grey, impenetrable air, the blackouts and planes overhead felt like a warzone. For a good week or two I shuddered anytime I heard a siren, helicopter or ambulance. Our neighborhood was spared, though good friends three houses away lost their historic home to a generator-caused fire during a rolling blackout. Our block is lucky firefighters were able to keep the flames contained. Other neighborhoods were not so lucky.
It seems everyone here knows someone impacted. It's heart-breaking, and I continue to feel survivor's guilt and vicarious trauma. Our lives continued unscathed while friends lost every single item they owned, most with only 15-30 minutes to evacuate. One friend could only focus on grabbing her daughter's stuffies to try to normalize their first night somewhere new, only to lose their entire home shortly after. Entire neighborhoods are leveled to ash.
This experience has been a sobering, humbling reminder that everything you own can go up in flames based on forces you have absolutely no control over.
In IFS we offer up burdens to the elements to be transformed.
This experience reminds me how too much of anything (sunlight, oxygen, fire, water, wind, food, work, alcohol) is destructive.
We owe so much to the 2000 brave, skilled firefighters who came from all over the country to help. Local volunteers had some rough experiences, watching their own friends' homes burn, unable to save them. It's a miracle and a testament to successful evacuation efforts that no human lives were lost.
It's been rough but our community continues to come together in beautiful, inspiring ways. Tragedies like this remind us of what is most important and how we need one another to continue on.
If you had 15 minutes to grab your most precious belongings, what would you choose?
Oof. Heavy stuff, just like the sky below in Spokane en route to Albany, NY, with clearer skies for my Kripalu retreat.
