the things we lost in the fire...

so one of my friend's houses burned down in the recent san diego fires. we actually went down to san diego and hung out with him today. it was another weekend of sarcasm, excess food, and an unexplained attraction i still don't understand. so the rest of the neighborhood was fine except for the 2 houses that burned down in that community. the fire came into their backyard at 4am, all they could get out was a car and a basket of clothes. it was surreal, the wind blew silently picking up the debris littering the floor that used to be his house. we looked that all the things that were still there trying to identify each object as if knowing would make us feel like we could understand the feeling of losing everything you ever owned. the van, the fridge, the camera with it's lens still intact, the washer and dryer barely holding up it's shape. nothing was salvageable...and when he talked about his parents, their screaming and their tears as they sped away from their house leaving their memories behind to burn in the fire. i can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to wake up in the middle of the night and find my backyard on fire. what would i bring? what would i run for?

PS: Did you know that even though your house burns down you still have to pay your home Owner's Association fee? Fucked UP!