What would originally have been stressful can be made easy with the right preparation and the right people.
My girlfriend and I were recently forced to evacuate Jasper, AB due to intense wildfires that eventually destroyed just over 30% of the town. Yes, for you lurkers from my social media, you probably knew I’d talk about this. You know who you are. Hear me out for a minute.
I run a tight ship financially. Though my emergency fund has grown with the introduction of a full-time car (which I have replaced the old car mentioned in a previous post with something a bit more reliable, not to mention less cringe-inducing) I still do not have too many funds on hand at a given time. However, it was trivial to liquidate an extra $2000 worth of spare stocks just in case. This is because I have backup systems set up to provide a real, tangible emergency fund if I need while working for me in the background. Adequate prep ensured we had hotels booked for the entire extended route back home, making the logistics of the evacuation not a huge issue.
What was more influential, though, was the person I was evacuating with. Holly is a remarkable woman for a number of reasons, not the least of which was shown to be her adaptability in high-stress situations. She remained calm the entire time and we could joke around in the car while the air around us had ash falling from the reddened sky. There was an intense discord between the environment outside the car and the mood inside. This made it infinitely more bearable. When we slept in the car that first night, there were no complaints. We made do. What could have been a stressful situation turned into a rather romantic unplanned trip. We learned a lot of new things about a lot of new places. About each other. I learned some things about myself.
If you look for them, there are silver linings to even red skies.