fires and lives...

5/13/2012

As I watch the videos and see the photos of the fires in Colorado, right where I used to live, I am reminded of how the animals fled before. How the horses on the ranch became distraught before being caught by their owners and taken home. Of how I watched the fire and smoke come up the mountain and the air turn dark over days.

I remember being evacuated and having to watch the red and golden flames shoot up from the mountain and wonder if the house...any of the houses...were going to be there after the fire stormed through. 

I remember months after, walking along the back of the ranch with the dogs high above the house, and smelling the smoke and seeing the blackened trees and ground. I remember how silent it was because the animals were all gone. As far as they could run, slither, fly and scamper. But, then a small baby bear was found by a neighbor wondering lost and alone. It was saved and taken to a safe place. That was a good feeling.

It reminds me of how those of us who are trying to save lives in our own way each day watch the many animals come through our lives like a fire out of control. So many not saved, but the ones who are will always be strong because they made it