Home is Wherever I'm With You...

After the Labor Day holiday this song from Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros has never rang so true in my mind. Since the wildfires hit Central Texas, specifically so close to "home" back on Sept 5th its been amazing to think what we truly need in life to be happy and healthy. In a moment of panic when you think your house could be next in "the line of fire" you grab whats important. So what really is important?...What would you pick? What is worth putting in your vehicle for when you make your escape? What cannot be replaced?
Faced with a house filled with stuff the important things were few and far between. A fire proof (hah) safe filled with important documents; passports, birth certificates, pictures and irreplaceable greeting cards from loved ones passed. Deemed fire safe, we've heard the blazes in Central Texas were so hot they melted right through similar products. It has come to our attention that a safe deposit box is in our future for these important items. So what else did I grab? A wedding album, laptop, hard drives filled with memories in pictures, medications, toothbrushes, a few clothes, dogfood and leashes. My second run through the house garnered pillows and blankets, a few more clothes so as to not be dressed in yoga/pj wear and some deoderant. Filling up the Prius or in my case not filling up the Prius left me realizing that not many things in life are the "important things" other than my family. I left the entire back seat of the Prius ready for the dogs. In hindsight after all our things were sitting on the kitchen table the next day when the smoke subsided I realized 75% of the things I grabbed weren't that important. Throw my husband, child and fourlegged children in the car and rescue our passports and computers and I'm good to go. I'm happy, I'm healthy and life is good; with or without a house to come home to with all our stuff inside. Even the passports and computers are replaceable. The memories they hold would be hard to lose but stuff is negotiable, family isn't. And yes...my dogs are my family. See blogpost from Monday.
Since labor day we have reevaluated the things we have and what we really "need" to live a happy, healthy life. We've nearly emptied our filing cabinet filled with not so important documents. We've donated my couponing bounty of personal care products to the fire victims. We've donated clothing to Goodwill. We've cleaned. We've made plans for a safe deposit box however have yet to follow through with. Which reminds me... We've made plans with the neighbors just in case either of us are not home if something happens...We'll each have a vehicle with six dogs but we'll be damned if we don't evac with our fourlegged family members. We've discussed what happened with Kendall and made "just in case" plans. We've even thought about creating an evacuation kit to keep in our vehicles just in case we aren't home when something happens. Think about it, what would you need if you left for the grocery store on a holiday weekend and you weren't allowed to go back to your house to collect anything. There are thousands of people that lost their houses in Bastrop and hundreds of stories of lost pets that just break my heart. For my family and friends and loved ones, I encourage you to make those just in case plans for your "important things" and I guarantee you that other than your family's safety there isn't much else you 'need' to be happy.
My happiness...
My home...
Is wherever I'm with you...