Mandy Moore

A random smattering of life lately….

We never got an evacuation notice. Sometimes in the quieter moments of processing the last month, I play the game of what would have happened if I didn’t have my phone next to me, playing my typical “piano for deep sleep” mix as I nursed Lou before bed, so I could answer the call from my brother-in-law? It was 6:45 p.m. and he told me he, his wife, and our niece were evacuating, grabbing my in-laws (his parents) and getting the heck out of Dodge and we should do the same. I calmly walked downstairs and relayed this to my husband and without skipping a beat, we promptly packed up the kids (in their pjs), our dog, and scrambled to find our 3 cats as the power went out. I’ll never forget Taylor trying to figure out how to manually open our two little garage doors (they’d just finished construction around Thanksgiving and we’d just started using them—) in the harrowing 60 mph winds, as the sky glowed a dark red and ash started to fall all around us. We raced across town amidst fallen trees on the freeway to the safety of our dear friend’s place, got the kids down, and then I raced to Target to grab a litter box and some water, impulsively refreshing the watch duty app over and over. As we did all night. Over and over. Watching the evacuation zone narrow in on our little 8-block radius. It took until 4 a.m. for it to turn red. All the while, tossing and turning with a stomach-churning anxiety I’ve never experienced before, both boys passed out between us in bed. Lou slept on the floor in a travel crib, and the dog curled up protectively by the door. Continued in comments….

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanza! This is the best we could muster with a self timer this morning but grateful doesn’t even measure how I feel about this family of mine. This time last year we had no idea we’d would be welcoming another family member- holy cow. Soaking it all in… while simultaneously running on empty. Cheers to a happiest holiday season for all!