Houston; we have a situation

CHaPuZaS · Post by **CHaPuZaS** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:34 pm

Well, Gary is answering back to some threads as of today, so I hope he's perfect and back.

mystical_tutor · Post by **mystical_tutor** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:04 pm

My friends;

Your concerns, prayers and good wishes mean a lot to me. Thank you much.

My humble apologies for not responding sooner. I have been back in my house for a few days now and all is well. The fire was stopped about one mile from my house so I didn't even suffer smoke damage.

My delay in answering is largely due to getting my mind to even deal with what almost happened. The thought of loosing almost everything that has to do with my life and my family "roots" left both my wife and I in a state of shock. We kinda go about doing things but are mentally numb. Day-to-day things (like golf for her) have popped right back to normal but our house and collecting are things we just can't think about. There are always cards piled all over the room [read house] but in the last few days my mind just refuses to focus on them. It is really strange. Maybe has something to do with being 72, I don't know.

I will be looking for a "safe" storage location for many things now but I can't accept the idea of not being with my collection so am planning to make it much more portable.

To let you see a little of the personal side. As my wife and I were driving out in the evacuation of our area (a 5 min drive to the interstate that took over 45 min just because of the vehicle volume) we started thinking of things we should have brought (and things we should have left). Then, almost spontaniously we said at the same time "but I have the one thing with me that is really important---you." It hit us so much at the same time that we just looked at each other (almost causing me to rear-end the car ahead of me).
Later, as we were at a friends house I noticed my honey was really thoughtful and sad. "its OK honey, we are safe" "Yes", she said, but I'm really sorry about your collection...."

I have a lot to be thankful for and one of the most important of them is friends that think about me.

Thank you.

Gary

mystical_tutor · Post by **mystical_tutor** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:28 pm

Hammr;

You are so right. There is a really bright side to this event. The way it all came about and the limited loss of life is something that could have been so much more tragic. Even the loss of so much property needs to be considered in relationship to what could have happened.

Literally thousands of cubic feet of burning material was dumped, like the dropping of a bomb. Because of the extremely dry conditions of the forest the fire developed tremendous temperatures which literally lifted the burning material into the air, held it for some time, created a 60 MPH wind that then dumped all that across two fire lines. The evacuation had been just in time. Many people were trying to get back to their homes from work to gather personal and valuable items and were upset that the police stopped them--until the fire cloud dumped. If they had gone back they would not have come out again.

The modern ability to communicate saved some firefighters that were trying desperatly to save homes. One of the helicopters dropping water saw what was happening and radioed them. "GET OUT OF THERE" they did and moments later the whole area was ablaze.

And thanks for your patience with me in answering.

Gary

hammr7 wrote:On the optimistic side, there were very few deaths from the Colorado Springs fires. There was however, a tremendous amount of property and infrastructure damage. If Gary's house was involved, or if the houses of any of his friends or family were involved, then he has far more important things going on than this site.

Keep him in your prayers, and I am certain we will hear from him when it is again convenient for him.

dry cereal · Post by **dry cereal** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:46 pm

wow, thank you for the update. It is stirring. So glad you are safe.

markers · Post by **markers** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:20 pm

Very good to hear from you Gary! Glad nothing happened to you and your wife.

jamesbond · Post by **jamesbond** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:22 pm

Hi Gary,

I'm glad you're safe. I started to be worried about your situation and now i'm happy that nothing happened to you.

I hope to see you soon.

Take care.

Raphael

kalimno · Post by **kalimno** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:47 pm

Glad to hear all is well Garry. Welcome back home !

sdematt · Post by **sdematt** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:57 pm

So glad you're okay.

On a nice note, the smoke from the fires in Colorado and Siberia are both drifting over here and hanging in the sky. It's been super hazy, but it's made for beautiful sunsets.

It was very nice that this had a happy ending.

-Matt

Hayden · Post by **Hayden** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:23 pm

Thank god you, your family and your home are ok.

Makes us all think about what is really important overall.

Glad you are back

Tha_Gunslinga · Post by **Tha_Gunslinga** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:56 am

Thank you for letting us know you're ok. I was really worried about you and your family, and I'm glad everything worked out fine.

GlobalBoosterHunter · Post by **GlobalBoosterHunter** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:49 am

Family, house and collection all safe. Not a bad outcome!

sdematt · Post by **sdematt** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:13 am

Random question for you, Gary: did you fight in the Korean War/were stationed there at some point? Maybe this was answered a long time ago, or many times, but I'm just wondering if this is the reason you have a penchant for Korean culture in general.

God, I was doing the math and thinking you would have been old enough, but then I realized it's not the 1990's anymore. Ugh.

-Matt

random · Post by **random** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:57 am

Korean war vets are almost as old as WWII vets.

Kalle · Post by **Kalle** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:14 am

I'm very happy to welcome you back in the forum. :)
I understand your dizziness, since traumatic events really shake our lives from the roots.
Being a collector means putting a lot of emotional involvement in objects and finding yourself in a position not to be able to preserve them is highly traumatic.
I trust you'll be able to react well, because you are surrounded by great people and, from what you told us, you have an outstanding wife.

Gits · Post by **Gits** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:20 pm

Happy for you Gary, the story gave me the chills (is this english?)

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