NIGHT LIGHT NEWS
DAILY POSTINGS
Thursday, Decemeber 26, 2024- 8am
Thursday, December 26, 2024- 8am
How we are – our day today – Christmas Day.
Baptism of air, water & fire.
The Initiations. Mars – the tests.
Summoning courage….
When we first arrived a tornado happened
in a place where no tornadoes ever happened.
Then the surf began to rise at the seashore.
30 ft waves were expected.
There was fear that it would inundate the village.
Our apartment was right at the seashore.
So we were evacuated from our apartment (airb&b).
Our apt. was/is on the second floor overlooking the water.
Access (for me) – the elevator.
We returned after the water evacuation…after a day or two (yesterday at 5pm).
And then at 5am this morning we were awakened by an explosion,
loud, terrifying, like a bomb. We rushed outside to our
2nd floor veranda, & I said to A…I smell gas.
A said, put your shoes on, I’m taking you down the elevator in case the electricity goes off.
Putting on my sandals, still in my nightgown, we went down the elevator & I got into the car (safeguarding me due to my disabled).
A went back up to the room to get necessities.
But who can think in such a crisis & disaster?
What to take? I had taken my cell but left my purse & medications.
While waiting for A in the car I began to see embers, fiery embers falling…huge fiery blobs were falling from about down & all around –
I was worried about A & about the embers.
The fire engines kept coming, red flashing lights everywhere, police on motorcycles – & a policewoman came to the car as i sat there & said to me….get out, get out now!
I called to A….the embers were beginning to burn the paint on the car. It was a new car to us (2000 Jeep Laredo).
A finally came out w/ computers & I don’t remember what else & got into the car. We navigated out of the parking lot & onto the streets & thru the 7 fire trucks with red lights flashing.
Being told don’t run over the hoses!
We still didn’t know what happened, & we were in shock.
The air was filled with smoke, the smell was gas mixed w/ chemicals.
The question – Where to go at 5 in the morning in one’s nightgown? We drove to the top of the hill overlooking the wharf & water & the village by the seashore & sat there for 3 hours watching the red lights of the fire trucks.
Dawn happened, then the sunrise – beautiful orange & pink, colors filled with sunlight.
We needed a bathroom, gas for the car, some coffee, some information, some food & someplace to go for the day (& night).
The police told us of a public bathroom which we found just as the sun was rising & when in the stall the toilet paper container fell & broke when we touched it. O my G….what else!
Later, driving around – what is open on Christmas day? – we found an open gas station with a car wash & tried to wash the black embers off the car. We had to scrub them off. But they had burned into the paint.
We looked for a place to buy coffee but it’s Christmas day & nothing is open. We finally found a Denny’s & I changed my clothes in the parking lot. I had laughed at the surfers being naked & changing their clothes under towels & muumuus. And here I was in the Denny’s parking lot, taking my night gown off & putting a coat over myself. I didn’t care at that moment & simply took my nightgown off. It didn’t matter that I have nothing else on.
And so…we had coffee & breakfast at Denny’s (a place I would never go to for food). We were in a state of shock.
Later we went back to the village to see if we could retrieve anything from the apartment. The police gave A five minutes – for meds, basic clothes, essentials. All the fire trucks were still there, the roads were roped off, no surfers could bring their cars or trucks in (they walked in barefoot to where they surf), no one who lived around the fire could enter any buildings.
And so….
We drove around for hours today on Christmas day. Trying to figure out what was possible, what was available, what was the right thing to do, what could we do?
Several friends offered different levels of support – places to stay, food, kind words, etc.
We had to find out what was best.
Most of all for me was visiting Matthew. We had promised to take him to a gathering but that didn’t happen. In between checking with the fire chief multiple times, driving around to places that were offered to us, talking to people, trying to balance shock with practicality & tell people who asked us what happened, remembering it was Christmas day we asked when do we see Matthew? And all of a sudden it was 3pm on Christmas day & what had we done?
We finally went to a Hilton hotel. A miracle – they had a room available that as an assessable room. This brought us some comfort. Then we visited with Matthew for three hours til his care person came.
Afterward, we had dinner with Laura & her family. A beautiful dinner, a beautiful calm art filled environment, candles lit everywhere. It was comforting.
Then we went back to the Hilton, which is where we are now. Glad to be safe, in a safe clean room.
And so….
Thinking about this situation I say to A over & over – we are alive. The explosion & fire occurred right behind, almost touching our building, behind our rooms. The fact that we were alive was a miracle. We are alive I think over & over. It was so close!
I have posted photos below. When I first saw the devastation I was shocked into silence & actually disbelief. The building that exploded is now bending dangerously towards the building we were in. It has to be taken down & dismantled before we can get back into our apartment. And the gas leak has to be repaired & inspected. Electricity & water & utilities have been turned off. The fire chief said demotion & repairs will take an indefinite amount of time. So here we are.
We have a limited amount of resources and a limited amount of time. All we can do is be present to each moment and it seems each moment something changes, breaks, isn’t available, is flooded, explodes, has a tornado and/or something else we can’t even imagine happens – things yet to be, sometimes surprising, sometimes shocking, sometimes completely unbelievable!
And so….Mars is retrograde. Mars can be extreme testing.
It rules Aries & Scorpio & Sagittarius. All three call us to be courageous in the face of difficulties. To be like a warrior in the battle. And to be triumphant. A big task when things continue to happen with such force.
Actually….we are trying to be warriors & courageous.
Thank you to all who wrote, called, offered help &
support & encouragement. We are grateful for so many things
on this Christmas evening. love to everyone, Risa & A.
Note: in the photos, the brown building is our apt.
