(photo credit: my brother and his iphone)
There are not a lot of words I'm able to write for this post. February has left me emotionally spent. Grateful, relieved, blessed they're all a good start and all prominent in the fore of my heart and mind.
My dad built this house when I was 5. Well, started building it, it's been a long process and a labour of love. Living in the country there is always the threat of bush fires, the worry sits there in the back of your mind all year round and then come summer you are on high alert, the possibility becomes very real.
I remember walking home from the bus stop after school when I was about 11, along the dusty unmade road the air thick with smoke and knowing fires were very close. When I got home mum had cases packed by the door and I couldn't quite believe we were actually going to have to leave.
Ever since that day I've been in fear of bush fires and not being quite so lucky. After the devastation of Black Saturday, when the fires came closer still and the realisation of their enormity and power would leave little hope of being able to fight, our parents made a promise that if they were ever under threat again, they would not stay.
They didn't stay. The fire came up to the front steps and they lost sheds. The neighbours lost their homes.
Grateful. Relieved. Blessed. The words are not enough.
What a powerful post this is. It would resonate with most Australians who live in the bush, it is a real fear every summer when the hot dry winds blow. So relieved for your parents that their family home was spared.
ReplyDeleteOh my how scary for your parents Mel, the relief they must have felt along with the sadness for their neighbours. I'm so glad that they are safe and their home too. xx
ReplyDeleteOh Mel, that first photo kills me.
ReplyDeleteBiggest love.
xxxxx
Oh wow Mel, you have so perfectly portrayed hte joy and the fear of living in our sunburnt Country. Thank goodness all are safe.
ReplyDeleteOh. Glad they're safe. Nothing as scary as a bush fire. I can remember as a kid, watching the fires at night, you could literally see the flames leaping in the air from 20 km away once.
ReplyDeleteI second Kate's words. So grateful that everyone is safe. What an emotional and bittersweet story.Hugs!
ReplyDeleteThank god they are safe, Mel. This would be so horrifying. Seeing all that black devastation is beyond awful. I hope your parents are in good spirits, considering. x
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