Okay, the weekend started out with a bang – my friend Rita and I went to see Tyrone Wells at the Troubadore in West Hollywood. In case you don’t know Tyrone Wells, you should check him out! He used to lead worship at University Praise and is an amazing singer/songwriter! Check out his site here.

So the concert was GREAT and I decided to spend the night at Rita’s since she lives closer to West Hollywood than I do. When I woke up in the morning, the skies were already filled with smoke from the Sylmar fire. I took off early to get out before it got ugly, plus had plans to go sports fishing in the ocean with my boys! So we headed towards Orange County, grateful to not have to deal with the fires for the day.

However, driving in we soon saw fires off the 91 freeway. When I drove to Edgar’s house, it didn’t seem too close and we all headed towards Newport Beach (including Edgar and his neighbor, Andy and Andy’s daughters – who are good friends with my sons). We headed to the beach, glad to get away from the smoke and blah related to the fires near Orange County. We got settled on the boat, started heading out to sea, and then we saw the smoke spreading before our very eyes off the coast. It soon appeared to be a bigger fire than we anticipated.

Soon Andy, who is a Placentia Police Officer, began receiving calls. They were doing voluntary evacuations in Edgar’s neighborhood and the police department was making sure Andy’s motorcycle and weapons were safe. As we were in the middle of the ocean, he could not access either. But this also raised other flags – were Edgar’s parents safe? Gracie was with them, too! What the heck was going on!

Let me tell you, it was a LONG fishing trip and feeling helpless! Poor Edgar was on the phone so much and I was trying to make things “calm” for the boys and for Andy’s kids. I think we made that happen, but it was another thing all together dealing with the fires that were awaiting us!

The Brea fires were very close to my house, the Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda fires were very close to Edgar’s house. I soon realized I could get to mine without tons of problems, but Edgar’s area was closed to anyone. I took the boys home and Edgar, with Andy, tried to see if they could get in using Andy’s police position.

Bottom line – it was CRAZY and I don’t really want to relive it here…..but basically everyone is okay and no property was lost.  It was tough going, the smoke SUCKS, and it was tense for some time.  Things are settling down although it’s STILL very smokey here (as of Monday night).  The boys’ school was closed today so it was weird……

So anyway, we are safe and sound.