What would you bring?

Along with most of you, we are tracking the California wild fires this week.

We watched in horror as whole neighborhoods fell. As frequently as common sense allowed, we checked in on our daughter, almost son in-law and the sweetest rescue dog in all the land.

Though they have been evacuated from two separate places, they are all doing fine. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and, especially, to those with kind offers of shelter.

As I read and heard the stories of people forced to flee their homes on short notice, quickly grabbing their most valuable possessions, I wondered how they chose.

What would you take with you if you knew anything you left behind would probably burn to the ground?

The fires and the questions they provoked seemed Biblical in their intensity.

I looked around and realized immediately that my house itself, even with its creaks and drafts, would have been one of my most precious possessions. Because we bought it from my mom, I have 53 years of history embedded in that house. Our lives are scribbled on the walls, woven into the vintage window treatments and worn into the those hardwood floors that have seen so much.

I love our house but I love the family it grew even more. So, I’d leave that building behind and pack up the memories it helped us make.

I’d take my scrapbooks, if I could, and the bin of family videos I have not yet converted to uploadable files.

I’d pack up the practical things too — contact lenses, glasses and a couple of changes of clothes, but I’d leave most of my closet behind. I’d grab my dad’s NFL issue blazer, though, and my favorite workout shoes.

I’ve thought about it these past few days and I’m pretty sure I’d take the ageless leopard gecko who lives in the bedroom across the hall from me. She isn’t mine, but I’ve cared for that little lizard for almost four years now and I know I wouldn’t be able to leave her behind.

I’d take the bins of photographs, if I could gather them efficiently. I’d bring my laptop, cellphone and, hopefully, chargers from both. I’d leave behind any other screens or electronics.

What would you bring?

They say you should take the six “Ps” if a disaster forces you out of your home — People and pets; prescriptions; papers and phone numbers (important documents); pictures; personal computer; and plastic (credit cards).

I hope we can offer the victims of the California wild fires all the support they need in a time of unbelievable destruction.

Here’s a link for various ways you can help as the L.A. areas continues to battle these fires.

May God bless the victims of these terrible fires and the brave souls out there fighting to put them out.