Triskel Life

My hubby is a fireman, so talk of fire is a regular occurrence in my house. But recently the discussion has reached an all time high as our fair county has been faced with three serious fires in just as many weeks. As one local reporter put it, any of these fires alone would have been eligible for “Story of the Year” were this even the end of it.

Fire season has only just begun and fires continue to rage, as illustrated by this map dated June 27, 2008. Walking outside my house it reeks of campfire, normally a smell I love, but now a scent that represents destruction. Fortunately, the fires have not yet been at my own back door, but close enough that hubby and I have assessed the most valuable items to grab in an evacuation (dogs, cat, computers, backup drive and wedding photos), tightened down our fireboxes with important documents, and stocked our “get-away” vehicle—our truck—with food and water for us, our animals, bedding, dishes and the basics to get us by for a few days self-contained. We’ve even made plans about where we’ll meet should we be separated at the time of evacuation.

This week, when reports of possible thunder and lightning—weather that caused 300 spot fires last weekend—hit the news, I started my home inventory. The list catalogs everything in our home, what it is, where it’s from, how much it cost and when we bought it, should we need to make an insurance claim on our burned-down home. It’s not done yet (boy do we own a lot of stuff!), but it has served as an interesting barometer of our lives. You see patterns that mark the changes in your life, like the plethora of kitchen appliances from our wedding registry and the furniture from 2005 when we purchased our second house. In making these lists you are struck by both the futility of the “things” that accumulate in our lives, and the special place they hold in our hearts.

We all know we should have these plans and preparations in place anyway, especially living in earthquake country, but sometimes you need a little nudge to make you do it. In this case, the emergency has made me grateful for what I have, and what I don’t need.

How are you prepared for an emergency?

This past birthday I officially moved from my “mid-twenties” to the oh-so-near-thirty “late-twenties.” The passing from one threshold to another moved me to notice how I, and my almost-thirty-years-old peers, differ from the other twenty-somethings. I found some of the changes interesting or funny and began keeping a mental list. Naturally, this is from a woman’s perspective, so I would love to hear what the almost-thirty man notices too. If you have some additions please comment below and share them! I can’t wait to hear how you know you’re almost 30.

How you know you’re almost 30:

-The majority of your friends are married or have sent out their ’save the date’ postcards.

-You look around at your male friends and realize most have gray hair speckling their heads or beards and baldness is no longer just a possibility, but part of their “look.”

-”Are you going to have kids?” “When are you starting a family?” or some other version of “When are you popping one out?” is a weekly, if not daily question you manage.

-You’d much rather watch Grey’s Anatomy on your DVR than go out on Saturday night (you mean get dressed up AND stay up late?!).

-You start to think that silver jewelry looks cheap and choose gold because it looks more sophisticated.

-Body fat starts to stick in very strange new places.

-You walk inside American Eagle Outfitters/Urban Outfitters/Abercrombie+Fitch/Forever 21 and realize you probably shouldn’t be shopping there any more.

-You over hear the most recent hires at work talking and realize that you are now one of the “old guys” with the “outdated ideas.”

-Know that Hershey’s Chocolate or any other kind of milk chocolate is for kids, instead craving the deepest darkest solid chocolate you can find.

-You look at the covers of the magazines at the checkout stand and honestly have no idea who some of the stars on the covers are.

-You don’t feel a day older than 16—just a little bit smarter with more money.