Balance Amidst the California Wildfires

Welcome to the "On Balance" guest blog. Every Tuesday (or in special cases like this one, on other days), "On Balance" features the views of a guest writer. It could be your neighbor, your boss, your most loved or hated poster from the blog, or you! Send me your original, unpublished entry (300 words or fewer) for consideration. Your essay will be published using your full name. Obviously, the topic should be something related to balancing your life.

By Barbara A. Rose

I've never faced the typical home and work balancing act, as I don't have children and am not married. But I know what balance is now.

In southern California where I live, starting this past Monday every television channel dumped its regular programming to broadcast about the wildfire emergency caused by the Santa Ana winds. Calls went out for volunteers and materiel at Qualcomm Stadium. Requests were made for hay for horses (this is horse country). Calls in English and Spanish to evacuate NOW. EVACUATE. NOW.

I went home early on Monday to check on my condo, which I suspected probably wasn't in the fire zone. I knew the evacuation orders would keep some of our staff from making it to work during the night shift in the ICU at the San Diego Veteran Administration Hospital, where I am the Clinical Nurse Specialist. I told my boss I would be available. I live alone so it would be no problem.

I went home, e-mailed my computer files to myself at work, and packed up the essentials: financial documents, my Rolodex, medication, scrubs, underwear, and ... my knitting. A few pictures and the only doll I've ever been even remotely liked, a figurine dressed in traditional Polish costume. A little more yarn. My journal and rosaries.

When I got the call Monday night to come in and work the night shift, I wasn't surprised. Driving to work Tuesday at 1:30 am on the deserted freeways, I passed a convoy of firetrucks headed west toward the fires - a continuous line of firefighters coming to the rescue. I couldn't make out either the beginning or the end of the line, there were so many. What I found at work astounded me even more. Four of the nurses who had started work at 7:30 a.m Monday morning were still caring for patients at 2:00 a.m. Tuesday. They had decided to stay until midnight, and then, as one said, "I figured, why not, I can sleep later...so I stayed." All of these nurses are married. Most have kids. All of them were worried about their homes and loved ones. Several more nurses called in to volunteer for work -- after settling their families in evacuation centers .

What's balance? That's balance.

Barbara A. Rose lives and works in southern California.

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  October 26, 2007; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  Guest Blogs
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