My last post was a recounting of surviving the October 2017 fires of Sonoma County, California, by Bob Carlson . This post is from the perspective of his wife, Gretchen. Her focus is mainly what led up to the fire and what happened after. They are now ensconced in a newer, beautiful home on the Mendocino County Coast.

Gretchen was the only child of her parents and ended up being the historian and custodian of her family. Gretchen says that before the fire she did not want to get rid of anything from the past. She loved and enjoyed it all. There was furniture, dolls, dishes, sewing machines, quilts, afghans, books, pictures, letters, etc.  Most items had hand written notes taped or pinned to them explaining why they were special.

Shortly before the fire Gretchen began to look at these items differently. She saw them as a potential burden, not to her, but to her two children after her death. She was getting ready to tell her daughter to sell it all.

But when the kids had indicated that they liked something, she had given it to them. So they had what they wanted. Gretchen realized that she had handled and used all the items so many times that she had firmly planted them in her mind and she could visit their memory at any time. And, in case of a fire, she had packed a special box with family history and details. The Carlsons brought this box out of the fire with them.

Gretchen said that God took care of any concern that she may have had for her items. She now refers to them as, “so much stuff”. All burned in the fire or were smashed by the collapse of the heavy tile roof. The exceptions were a round yellow water pitcher from her mother, an old iron bank and a big, iron pry bar from her father, one serving plate of a twelve place setting of Haviland china and an old, sad iron from her great grandmother and three small items from Gretchen’s childhood. Most of these are on display on a small table in her newer home but there is a small, blue and white bowl from her grandmother that is in the middle of the dining room table with a plant in it. That’s all that was gleaned from the fire.

But Gretchen views the loss as a positive. She said, “After God gave us this house (the newer one on the coast), I realized my family, whose precious things I faithfully looked after and greatly enjoyed, would have been okay knowing that their things had a part in giving us the insurance money to be able to have this lovely home.” Unlike many other fire victims, the Carlsons report that their insurance company was easy to deal with and prompt.

Three months after the fire, the Carlsons decided not to rebuild. They knew that they wanted outdoor space around their home. But the prices anywhere near the fire were high for so little. They searched North. Nothing. On a suggestion from Bob, they checked out the coast. The fifth house that they looked through was the one. They knew it immediately! They had been on the hunt for only two weeks.

The house incorporates many things that they have always wanted, like the wrap around porch that Bob loves. Inside, Gretchen is enamored with all the angles and high ceilings. The two acres always has something for them to do. There are plenty of trees and planned and wild garden areas. There is a big wood stove for heat and they are close to the ocean and share a private beach.

When Gretchen looks back to the fire she focuses on God’s provisions through it all. That helps her not stress the every day difficulties that we all have. She says, “We are doing something new and not trying to recreate the past and, most certainly, living with much less.” Not bad goals for an octogenarian and a mate that is just a few years younger.