Mudslides. I can’t handle them. Not in a glass or in their natural disaster form. No way, No how. I need to stay the hell away from mudslides. (and wildfires come to think of it.)
How did I come up with this conclusion? Let me tell ya:
Barbara and I drank a lot of mudslides at this awesome Boston College frat party in the 80’s. I didn’t handle the experience as well as Barbara. I got really sick. So sick that I couldn’t move until the next day. (Needless to say, Barbara waited for me and is an amazing friend) I, on the other hand, won the worst friend award that night.
Fast forward a few decades… December 2017
The Holidays upon us and parties lined up. The season was booked. I had it all planned out, or so I thought. I had nothing… zero…zilch… nada… I didn’t have jack shit.
Why? This little thing called Dec 4th. It started with a wildfire and wiped out every party and plan in its path, along with houses and much destruction.
Santa Barbara was a ghost town and I stayed to help Beverly so she could run the animal hospital. She helped with the k-9s and we did everything we could while wearing masks to breathe.
Truthfully, I was as prepared for this natural disaster as I was prepared for my first hangover. Seriously I was walking into November thinking I had my life together and by December 4th I was in tears, watching Santa Barbara burn… and today? I don’t even know. It has been a crazy ride.
Life had changed for everyone in Santa Barbara. Homes were burning and we were being evacuated. Living out of hotels became very expensive as the fire burned day after day and income just stopped coming in.
I had not prepared for this moment. Everything I cared about in the car cause the house may burn. Peoples cars being robbed. When I was actually evacuating the first time I was like Steve Martin in “The Jerk” feeling like I needed to grab every lamp and chair I could get my hands on.
This photo popped up on facebook… I didn’t take it and I don’t know who did but will give a shout out to them when I find out. they took a better picture than I did. 2 thumbs up for the skills.
By the time the fire past my house and I got back home, I didn’t want to leave. Heck, no one wanted to leave. We had a Christmas without a Christmas. Every event that I planned had canceled and no future bookings in site. But I was Home… home for the holidays. Whatever that meant. there were no gifts, I had not bought even one gift. Christmas came without ribbons, cards, and bows. Every card that I received was like a miracle. How did anyone find time for things like this?
Thank you to all of you that thought about us in our incredibly hard time by the way. It did not go unnoticed and will not be forgotten as we rebuild.
I was numb, we all were numb, walking zombies trying to get our shit together when the rain came pouring down and the mudslide hit us. That was when everything changed forever. Pinit and Pasta were killed. little Lydia was washed away by the mud never to be found again… was it more than 23 people? Morgan and Sawyer, Jack, and the reporter from the LA Times are somehow on my Twitter hitting me up? Why am I getting mad at her? Why am I so short tempered with people that don’t get what I’m dealing with? So many questions. So little blog space.
The mudslides came in the early morning hours of Tuesday, destroying an estimated 65 homes and damaging hundreds of others. Rescue crews sifting through mud and wreckage looking for the missing. Little Pasta & Oom’s bodies were found but Oom’s baby girl Lydia is still missing. All the years of friendship with Oom. I will miss him forever.
Survivors Guilt is what they called it at the ADL event. This feeling when you live in disaster and look around and your friends and friends kids have died. That feeling. Whatever it is it changed me. I have a piece of me that has been swept away with Oom, Pasta, and Lydia. I have had a hard time functioning some days. It’s hard to explain to people that have not lived through it… It is a living nightmare to see the boulders that crushed your friends.
I didn’t prepare for it.
Last night was another evacuation due to rain. The nationalguard.com was here to make sure all went well. No mudslide thankfully, everyone is safe.
I have not slept more than 2 hours in the past 2 days. I am scared of the rain. So fucking scared.
And we just lost another week of tourism… No income.
Yet, we all can breathe. For tonight. Deeply. We are blessed. Time with family is a lot more important than anything else in life, then good friends, back that up with some fine wines and spirits. 
I have a confession to make, I still can’t handle mudslides. That is never going to change.
Also, I could really use a single scotch neat and some sleep.
Till next time my friends
Anneliese
thequeenofnightlife.wordpress.com 