Normal

This week normal went on vacation for a while... again. Telling about it hurts but should ultimately help.

On Monday afternoon an errant spark catches in the tall dry grass still standing since last fall and the race is on.One I can't win. The wind, nill just moments earlier,was now swirling in every direction at once. In a blink of time the fire was raging.

Organized chaos follows. Flashing red lights on a variety of the same colored trucks. Long snakes of hoses litter the ground looking like so many spilled pick-up sticks. Orders are being barked and radios are crackling undecipherable words.Friends and neighbors all extend their sympathy,care and concern.

After days of viligance the last remnants of heat, flame and smoke are gone. Unlike the Chineese that look to fire and the color red symbolizing that same,cleansing fire, it is different for me. The colors are gray and black. Nothing is cleansed. The air is still tainted with the acrid aromas of the different materials caught up in the fray.

All is not lost. Most importantly, lives are spared. It will be a long time before normal can return. I am an authority on that. Another year, another fire. That time a house and all possessions are lost. Normal eventually returned after an extended vacation. Lost items, not really lost but gone, are missed for a long time. Most can be replaced. All will be well again.

When will things be"normal" again? Who knows?
Until then...on with life.