Page 11

Journal

I can’t believe the string of bad luck we’ve had the last few weeks.

There was a shipping delay in much of the interior materials including tile, granite counter tops, and appliances.

If that was all, we would have been lucky.

The roof is on and the walls are up, so we were counting our blessings until a few days ago.

The National Weather Service issued us a red flag warning.

Basically, high fire danger for the entire area.

What we thought was good luck in the weather department with warm, sunny, and dry days had been anything but lucky.

The smell of smoke was the first and only warning we got that there was an actual problem.

A wildfire broke out a few miles away and spread fast. At first, we thought we were going to be spared because it was headed away from us, but then the winds shifted.

It didn’t take long for the flames to be visible when the sun went down.

An eerie orange glow flickered to our west and the ominous smell of the world’s largest campfire choked us when we went outside.

I sent Sarah into town. There was no way I was going to risk her and the baby’s life in an attempt to save the B&B.

I was prepared to fight this fire by myself.

My own life be damned. We’d made the mistake of not taking out insurance on the place yet and if we lost it to fire, we would be sunk. There’d be nothing left.

I want to throw up just thinking about it.

After Sarah escaped with the Jeep and went to Angel Falls to wait it out, Brock showed up on my doorstep. I asked him what the hell he thought he was doing here. He had a boy to support. He looked me in the eye and said, “You’re my family, now start clearing a path around the house.”

We worked for the next twenty-four hours straight.

He and I cleared away bushes, cut down trees, removed all the underbrush away, using our back hoe to dig a little trench as well.

We started on the west side of the property and then worked our way around.

There wasn’t much else left for us to do but wait and see.

We collapsed into a heap, right there in the front yard.

The smoke grew thicker and darker with the impending doom.

We lay on the ground, trying to catch our breath.

I reached over and grabbed his hand to thank him.

My voice was too raspy to speak, but our eyes spoke for us.

He knew I loved him, and I knew he loved me.

He held on to me for what seemed like an hour but was probably only a few minutes, until he finally knocked me in the back of the head and said, get up you fool. Your wife is waiting for you in town.

He helped me to my feet, and we got into his truck and sped away.

I watched in the side mirror as we retreated toward town, watched as the flames drew closer to our life’s work.

Tears, borne from frustration, sadness, bad air, and love coursed down my cheeks.

I reached over and held onto my best friend’s hand and said a little prayer to myself.

I’ve never been much of a believer, but at this moment, it was the only option left I hadn’t tried.

We made it to town in time to watch a series of planes fly overhead in the direction of the fire.

They were part of the Alaska firefighting team.

Each of those planes were filled with either water or fire retardant.

I hugged my friend and we both jumped up and down in pure glee.

Sarah came running out of the small bait and tackle store on the corner and stopped short, staring at us.

I turned to her and smiled. “Honey, look,” I said and pointed to the planes. “We might just survive this thing.” Whatever was bothering her was pushed aside with the revelation and she rushed over and embraced me. We held each other, swaying back and forth in each other’s arms.

My love for Sarah intensified at this moment.

Our dreams were coming true. From a safe distance, we watched as the planes doused the fire.

We were high up on a vantage point, looking down into the valley where my family’s land spread out far and wide.

Much of it had been burned, but it wasn’t a total loss.

In fact, maybe some good would come from this.

New growth forest was often healthier and stronger than the old.

Animals would come and feed amongst the seedlings as they break the surface of the land and shoot skyward like their tree ancestors had done hundreds of years before them.

It was truly the circle of life, and it felt like it was surrounding us.