There’s a dinner party game we play about disaster. But when fire bears down the choice is stark |
Last Friday. The fire was so close the sky was an endless orange blur. An expected wind change could bring the rampaging front to the farmhouse. Inside, my son’s girlfriend was handpicking what to stow in a shipping container in case the home was lost.
She started with the photo albums, keepers of her family’s 150 years on the Strathbogie farm, of weddings and babies and forgotten summer days. Texted a few photos to me, knowing my sentimental streak.
What would you save in a fire?Credit:
A proud preppie, in school hoodie and shorts. “First day of school,” she wrote. “Hope it makes you smile.”
It didn’t. It made me cry so much I felt desiccated. I was beside myself for this incredible woman, for her dad and brother, bunkering down to defend their property as Mother Nature waged war.
How was she so calm, having to decide what really mattered and what didn’t, amid dire emergency warnings?
“Calm for now until the wind change hits,” she texted.
“Lucky Dad’s been in the CFA for 55 years. He’s the........