It's all about the Friends

Ahh. Friends. Becky and John drove to Heather's wedding with fire fighting clothes thrown into the backseat, just in case I called for help. Sandi called and offered to let me wake her up at 3:00 AM if I needed help. Where could you find better friends than that?

In fact, one of Becky's beautifully phrased observations about friendship is this: "Friends are able to find kinship in each other among all the chaos that surrounds us in a sometimes hostile world." Yes. (And then she adds, "[Friends are] unlike family (the ties that bind and gag) who are thrown together at Thanksgiving and in front of Grandma." And thank God for that!

But yesterday while licking my feel-stupid-for-not-going-to-the-wedding wounds(since my home Rome wasn't even burning), I got a call from an old friend who said, "Uh. Hey. The Huggins have to evacuate (from Upper Ojai) so I'm heading up there now to help. They'll probably stay at my house tonight so would you do me a Big favor and go to my house and clear all the laundry off the guest bed. And clean up the bathroom and uh, sort of pick up?"

Bachelors. Actually, his house was tidier than mine except for some used dental floss on an end table. I hope he wasn't saving it.

A working man from Ojai Post sent me a link last night to a satellite / thermal something something site wherein I can now "see" heat locations (the fire) and relax. (And I wanted to thank him but couldn't somehow.) Now if someone could make it possible for the fire to revitalize the flora while leaving the fauna and pockets of civilization alone - we'd all relax.

The fresh fire picture above was stolen from space. I hope I don't go to blogger jail for using it - whoever took it would get credit if only I knew who it was.