Fire Drill...?

Fair warning: This is a long post. Take two days to read it if you're overwhelmed. If you're procrastinating, definitely take some time to read it now. :)


Wednesday morning started out just like any other day at Weimar. But at lunchtime, we got a surprise!!! An Obermiller visit!! Accompanied by Kasee, Ipo, and... and... Oh no. I forgot his name. I know his last name is Hyde! After eating and socializing, we went outside and saw.....


THIS!

Okay maybe we didn't see this particularly. This was just across the street. But we did see this:

Smoke was billowing, "Prepare to evacuate!" was ringing across campus. Mothers were scooping up crying children and running to their homes to pack their most important things (Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories--true story) and college students jumping in the air rejoicing their good fortune (Psychology class isn't a favorite I guess...?) at classes being cancelled. Animals are being loaded into their cages as planes and helicopters are hovering over the campus. Photographers and stupid people are taking pictures like the one above. 

...Okay. Maybe not so dramatic, but it was more fun to read than:

After seeing the smoke, I got a call from Maria telling me to let everyone know we were planning to evacuate and meet in the prayer garden. So I did. 

See? Way better to read the first time.

What is going on in my head? 

Great. I brought almost everything I own that could fit in my car to move to Washington at the end of the program... What am I going to save?

WHAT AM I OKAY WITH BURNING!!?

Well, I shall tell you. 

Thinking I only had 8-10 minutes to pack this bag, I grabbed:

1. Blank Thank you Cards with their envelopes. Yup. If people hear about me losing everything and wanted to donate clothing, a guitar (Spoiler!), or other necessary items, I wanted to be prepared to thank them. HA! Actually, I don't know why I grabbed them, but I did. Weird what stuff you grab. 

2. My History of Redemption. 

3. Leather bound 1800's journal. It's not from the 1800's -- but my handwriting and the leather make it look pretty legit. 

4. My Bible

5. Any clothing that still had the pricetag on it 

6. Work out clothes (Um, if I didn't, you can guarantee that I wasn't going to keep up this exercise stuff without them)

7. Sonicare Toothbrush and toothpaste and deodorant 

8. Underclothing

9. My important Documents file (Birth certificate, SSC, etc.)

10. My library books. That would be $.25 per day per book for the rest of my life. Ew. 

11. This is actually the first bag I grabbed: Depression Recovery Bag with all my DR supplies to direct the program the next Monday. Blessing that I did. My wallet was in there and I didn't know it. 

What was I okay with Burning?

Nothing really. I left behind everything else and had to say goodbye.

Goodbye cute Dresses I'll never wear again. 

Goodbye 17 bottles of lotion I've received as gifts throughout the year.

Goodbye Tennis shoes. (I left those. I'm due to buy another pair anyways. :))

Goodbye Ninja Bobble Head. Monica will understand.

Goodbye Red cowboy boots. Mike never liked you anyways I guess. 

Goodbye Proof Positive. I hate that class anyways.
Goodbye Guitar. And wonderful Capo I know is in the case. 

Goodbye Copious amounts of stuff I never should have bought in the first place. 

So I went to the prayer Garden to wait with the other HEALTH Students. And We prayed. I texted people to pray. And we waited. 

And Waited.

...

And waited...?

When were we allowed to evacuate?!? 

"I need the go-ahead from the person above me." Says our dutiful registrar/does everything lady. (Pictured below is the only thing she grabbed to evacuate... Childhood bunny.)

So we waited... Watching the smoke and airplanes dump water on the fire. After 15 minutes we see the Weimar Inn evacuating. The sheriff had called to tell them to evacuate. 

"Hey! So we can leave now, right?!?"

"No, we need to stay put till Jill* (Name changed to protect the person) calls and tells me to evacuate."

... Um... What? The SHERIFF JUST CALLED TO EVACUATE. 

"I'm leaving! Just write my name down, and check me off whatever list you need to. Bye!"

And I left. 

Gratefully, Weimar didn't burn down that evening. So I came back from the mall and went to sleep. 

Thursday morning came and we are in class when Don comes in and says, "Guys, go grab some stuff and prepare to evacuate." 

Here we go again. 

So I grabbed the bag I'd already packed (didn't unpack. Laziness paid off today!) and packed ANOTHER bag! I'd had some time to think about it and I decided that if we were to evacuate again, I'd want to grab a few additional things that I was STUPID not to grab the first time.

Thursday, in addition to the list above, I grabbed:

1. MY HARDDRIVE WITH ALL MY INFORMATION ON IT FROM THE PAST 6 YEARS. Yeah, that would've been smart to grab the FIRST Day when the fire was ACROSS the STREET. Not down the hill. 

2. My Sonicare toothbrush CHARGER. Ha. 

3. My PHONE charger

4. My iPad (Really? Wow I'm an idiot.)

5. Designer sunglasses I can sell and buy more clothes with if everything burns. 

6. IRS Documents 

7. REI Sleeping Bag and Sleeping Mat. 

Still didn't grab that Proof Positive. 

As I went back outside, there is only smoke in the air and we are being rushed to be evacuated. Hm. Why didn't this happen when the fire was across the street? Weimar needs to get it together. 

SO we evacuated again, I said goodbye to my stuff again, and drove away not knowing if my stuff would be there when I returned. 

Some things I learned as a result:

1. I'm addicted to shopping and need to not buy anything for another 4 years.

2. I came to the realization that if it wasn't going to burn today, it was going to burn in a few years, so what did it matter what I lost? Hmmm...

3. I'm far too attached to material items. 

4. All that matters in life is relationships. My needs are so much smaller than I think they are. 

Anyways, everything is fine now! And we've had some good rain so it's less likely to flare up again. 

Thanks for reading!