Just 10 Days

In just ten days I was able to visit my first best friend, my sister in Wisconsin. I marvel at the beauty, I ride, I run and we boat across a lake, we build cozy fires, we drink Moscow Kicks, I take my midterm and pass, we laugh, we shop and we wonder at the beauty of our country; so diverse and varied. Every time they move I discover a new place to fall in love with, this time so much so that I even shop for homes and fantasize about being her neighbor.

In just ten days I read about the hurricane victims and wept as I discover a tweet that showed no compassion and found my friends and family united in our disappointment and sadness for so, so many victims.

In just ten days I texted my daughter's friend in Vegas just after she fled the concert and was waiting to see who was shooting, if they had stopped, and if she was safe. I marvel at her strength and am encouraged later when I find she is back with her students in the safety of her classroom and know that they will give her purpose and strength to carry on, to continue to move forward. I think of her often, daily.

In just ten days, I came to the comfort of my home and slept soundly and the winds picked up and awoke to inches of pine needles on my front lawn.

In just ten days I received numerous texts about our dear cousin Beth and her sweet family and have witnessed the fires through their eyes; evacuated and uncertain if their home stands. I've heard and seen, and realized, what is of most importance when devastation happens.  But I continue to watch and wait and to wonder about all of the thousands of others who have lost their homes or business or the hundreds missing or the 30 that did not escape and their families.

In just ten days, I had to have some very hard conversations with students I know, and had to decide how to help, how to support and always, how to listen as very real, very tough, very grown-up problems bleed into their childhood.

In just ten days, I get a photo from a child of mine via text that was of a leg, not broken but badly bruised, swollen and represented pain of a kind a mom simply can't protect.

In just ten days, I have two women take time from their very busy lives, drive through traffic, and to carve out time to share their life stories with a small handful of students at my school. They share their stories of struggle, of triumph, and about what matters most. They choose by their actions to show these student that they matter. To show them that they care. And they do, they care very much.

In just ten days I ride on BART and witness the very worst of humanity and the very best. First teens being teens, littering, horsing around only to have it escalate and have garbage thrown at me. Timidly I ask an Indian couple to escort me to the safety of the lobby near the police.

In just ten days I sit and listen to my child admit mistakes and witness growth and seeking understanding before my eyes and I am nearly breathless with the wonder.

In just ten days I wait for my BART train ride home, the same day, the same station and see a man fall on the tracks. The train is to arrive in one minute. We all moan collectively and some of us act by flagging down the tunnel in hopes that the train will see us and will stop in time. The hero, a black youth, jumps on the train and lifts the man to safety and we gasp and moan again because he is still on the tracks and can't quite get up. Luckily, thankfully, mercifully, we see other men reach down and grab his hands and pull him up to safety just as the train stops outside the entrance to where we are standing.

In just ten days I go to have a mini-celebration of sorts for the family that has had their home saved only to learn the winds and the fires have turned and the threat is on, off, on again, even today.

In just ten days I wake up from smoke, nauseated. With the aid of asthma pills, inhalers, nasal sprays and rinses I head to the safety over the hill where the air is clear and I feel better. But I wonder about the firefighters, the first responders and their families. I think of them and am thankful.

In just ten days, I celebrate a birthday with my friend who is sixty and am touched with the love shown to her by her children and family and friends.

In just ten days, I celebrate the life of a mom who left too soon for a daughter, my friend, and am touched again with the love shown to her by her children and family and friends.

All of this has happened in just ten days.