A Tragedy: Part One

I was reminded this past week just how easily our lives can change. In a split second, everything that you have can be taken away, and you’re left with fragments of memories. It was a good lesson in prioritizing and in realizing what is really important in life. 

Bastrop, Texas is now a topic on the national news. We’ve made history here, having just survived one of the largest wildfires in history. It was truly terrifying, and I hope I never see anything remotely like it again in my life. I’ve seen way too many movies, and they can’t even begin to scratch the surface of the horror my town experienced. It’s much worse in real life than on a screen, trust me.

Sunday, September 4^th, Day One: 

Nathan was invited to go to a cook-off at the Fayette County Fair, so he wasn’t home. The kids and I had been at my parents’ church for a visit that morning, and then we came home to take naps and wait for Daddy’s return. While they were sleeping, the phone rang. It was my associate pastor, wanting to know if Nathan was home, and if he could ride a motorcycle. Apparently, there was a fire near a church member’s house, and he was out of town. Someone was needed to try and rescue his motorcycle, because it was very likely that his house was not going to be saved. I made a couple of phone calls, and then my pastor said he would try to get someone, so I put it out of mind. I had no clue that incident was just the beginning.

A few hours later, the horror began to unfold. People started posting updates on Facebook, and I started getting e-mails about the fire’s location, and the fact that it was burning rapidly and out of control. I also realized that it was only miles from my house, and I started to panic. I was home alone with four kids, and there is only one exit from our subdivision. My neighbor came over and told me that it would be a good idea to get some things together in case we had to evacuate our home. My brain raced. What should I grab? What couldn’t be replaced? I make a habit of backing up all the pictures and data on our computer to an external hard drive, so I did another back-up, just to make sure everything was there. Then, I grabbed two boxes full of photos, all my scrapbooks and albums, and my box of keepsakes that my mom saved from when I was younger. I had some clothing for myself and for the kids, and chose one stuffed toy for each of them to take. I’m surprised I was thinking clearly enough to do that well, considering how terrified I was.

The fire jumped Highway 71 a little later, and I heard that they had closed the road completely to traffic. Nathan was on the other side. I wondered how he was going to get home, and started to be really worried. I needed him with me, to help calm me down. When I finally got in touch with him, he told me that he was headed back another way, and that he would be there soon. Once he got home, we decided to send the kids over to my parents’ house (which is in the middle of town), just to keep them safe and make things a lot less hectic for us if we ended up having to leave the house quickly in the middle of the night. We waited it out. 

When we went outside after dark, the whole sky was burning orange. We could literally see the glow from the flames spanning the landscape, and the smoke was intense. It was terrifying. 

Not from my house, but this is what it looked like outside.

Nathan went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. What if they came to evacuate us and we didn’t hear them? Would they know we were there? I sat in my recliner, next to the front door, and barely dozed the whole night long. We didn’t really know what was going on outside, other than the scattered reports we were getting online.

Monday, September 5th, Day Two:  

I headed over to my parents’ house to be with the kids. Unbelievable. It literally looked like the town was burning to the ground. The wind was so strong I couldn’t imagine how the firefighters could even begin to get control. We kept watching the news, hearing about more and more evacuations and neighborhoods on fire. Reports were coming in that the firefighters couldn't do much to contain the blaze because of the high winds, and that they were just letting it burn rather than getting in front of it and dying.

The Cedar Creek fire broke out that day, while Nathan was working out at his parents’ house in Bluebonnet Acres. I was talking to him on the phone, telling him that I would feel more comfortable if he left the area, he told me that the State Troopers were driving through the neighborhood at that very minute, evacuating everyone. I think the Alexanders had less than ten minutes to gather some things and run out the door. We were scared, not only for their house, but for their garage, in which resides Nathan’s entire cabinet business: all his tools and equipment, everything. The Alexanders went to Austin to stay with Nathan's aunt, and we all just waited some more. It seemed pretty certain that they were going to lose their house. Nathan came to my parents' to be with us.

I told Nathan that I was too afraid to go home. He went back to the house to make sure everything was okay, and ended up spending the night there (with no electricity). That was only the second night we’ve spent apart in our entire married life.

Tuesday, September 6th, Day Three: 

I had a doctor’s appointment in Austin in the afternoon, and Nathan had to go look at a possible cabinet job, so we all piled into the car and headed out. We had some time to kill, so we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese’s and let them play a little. It was nice to feel almost “normal” for a few minutes, and then the phone rang. We heard a rumor that our subdivision might be evacuated soon, and Nathan freaked out and wanted to go back home. We literally grabbed the kids and ran out to the car so we could speed back to Bastrop. Nathan dropped us all off at my parents’ and went to our house. He was gone a long time, getting some more things out of the house and moving vehicles and trailers. We never got an official evacuation, but at least we were very ready, just in case. I cancelled my doctor’s appointment. We just waited some more, watching for any news that it might be heading our way.

At one point, the wind was so bad that the smoke looked like it was boiling in the sky. I managed to get a short video from my parents’ driveway. It really seemed like the fire was going to be at their house at any minute because it was so huge. I was thinking about all the friends that we had whose houses were in danger, or who had already lost their homes. Absolutely heartbreaking.

We were never evacuated, and were so thankful, but it was still too close. Until the firefighters were able to get some control, I wasn't comfortable returning home with my kids. Also, we had no power. No electricity meant no hot water, no appliances, no air conditioning, and no lights. Nathan pulled all the food out of our freezer and some of the things from the refrigerator and brought them to my parents’.

More waiting. This was, by far, the worst day of the fire. I saw so many incredible pictures popping up online, and I stole saved a few, since I wasn't brave enough to get out and take my own.

The Austin skyline.

Our local fire department.

Truly horrifying.