Thank you all for your many responses. At this point, the air quality is so bad that people are walking around outside with masks. When you look to the trees, you see them shrouded in smoke and the sky is grey. It’s difficult to take a deep breath (and not advisable). So many people have lost everything. And so far, 31 have lost their lives. (The photo below is CNN's, not mine).

In our neighborhood, 90 miles away from Sonoma and Napa, the smell of smoke and the raining of ashes is everywhere. And people are doing the best they can because as always, there is nothing else to do. We donate time, money, towels, bedding, food. And then we keep putting one foot in front of the other, taking in the goodness with each (short) breath.

When we lost our money in 2008, I realized it was possible to lose everything and keep focusing on what I did have, not what I didn't have. I realized that so much of the frightening part of losing everything was what I told myself, the stories I kept repeating, what I was going to do in the future. The I-can't-manage-this story.