Tea Fire

Sounds quaint, doesn't it? The Santa Barbara "Tea Fire" began around 5:45 on Thursday, November 13, 2008. I left our sweet little adobe abode around 5 pm that evening with just my car keys in one pocket and cell phone in the other. I left Chloë with Papa and headed down to our friends house to babysit. We were out on the soccer field near Westmont College and saw, up on the hillside, a small fire at what is known as the Tea Gardens. I called my husband and asked him to bring Chloë and come down to where I was to see it. He turned off the cornbread he had baking in the oven, grabbed Chloë and his backpack (which had a few diapers) and came down to the field... by then the fire had consumed the whole mountain side and was, quite quickly, headed west (towards our house). By about 6:15 we were in his van headed to Montecito to stay with a friend, calling every person we knew the numbers for on the way. By 7 pm we already knew the places on the other side of the hill from us had gone up and were pretty sure ours was gone. We stayed up, watching the news trying to make things light, most of the night. We hardly slept a wink, but when we woke Benny and some friends got some face masks and went up the hill. He took his camera, which happened to be in his backpack, and got the photos you see at the top. The only time I cried was when I saw the one of our place... basically an ash pile. Things you'd expect to see, like the toilet or stone counter tops, were gone... no trace. Then the strangest things, like a piece of a photo or a small tea cup, would be there, only broken. An entire book shelf had all the books there in place and you could see the pages and writing, only if you touched them they would crumble, just ash with type. Almost all of our friends on Mountain Drive, most of our community, lost their homes. Over 200 homes burned that night. We started over, from scratch... really, first we got toothbrushes and toothpaste and then realized we needed soap and underwear and clothes to change into. It was amazing to see all the little things that go into making our "life". We stayed with lovely friends for almost three months, then found the place we live now. So grateful. It's strange not having anything older than 8 months, or so. Friends and family helped to stock us with sentimental things, photos they had, books, things we might save in place of our old treasures. I really can't bear to think of what our life would look like without all the care and compassion of the people we know and some we don't... kindness abounds!