Chances Are

I downloaded "Wildflower" by Sheryl Crow on iTunes today.

This is the CD that I've been waiting for.

There is one particular song that has been with me for years.

Back in 2002, when I was living at 1201 Race St with Brian, I had purchased the German release of the "Soak Up the Sun" single. The disc came with two versions of "Soak Up the Sun," a song with Sheryl and Stevie Nicks, and this song, "Chances Are."

In June that summer, Colorado experienced one of the worst forest fires in recorded history. The fire, which burned in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest southwest of Denver, consumed 137,70 acres of land.

When the fire started, I was at the Cherry Creek Athletic Club swimming in the outdoor pool. The day started out as a typically gorgeous Colorado summer day, but as I was swimming, the skies started to get red and dark. The air quality was so bad my eyes were burning. September 11, 2001 was still fresh in my mind and the first thing I could conceive of that would have caused such a thing was some sort of bomb or aircraft crash. The sky was black and red. The sun that was shining down on me was gone.

When I got home, I found out a wildfire was burning out of control 50 miles from where I was swimming. Governor Bill Owens was on TV holding a press conference and said "all of Colorado is burning." While this was far from true, it certainly felt like it if you were out and about in Denver on that horrible Sunday. Within the coming days, the fire was so bad ash was falling in my bedroom off Cheesman Park in Denver. I can still see ash floating the the dog's water bowl in our kitchen. The fire was getting so big by this point, people were being asked to evacuate neighborhoods in the very outer southern suburbs of Denver.

One night during the first week of the fire, Brian and I took a drive to Daniels Park in Douglas County to get a look at this fire. Daniels Park is on top of a mesa and you have gorgeous view of the Palmer Divide, Pikes Peak, Devil's Head and the incredible landscape of Douglas County. When I got out of the car, I didn't see the endless sky or the beautiful stars I was used to seeing. I saw hell on earth. The landscape glowed red. Lightning crashed over the flames and illuminated the thick black smoke in front of us.

On the way home, I couldn't help but listen to this song, "Chances Are." The music is what I saw, the music was what I felt. This fire was started not by nature, but by an irresponsible person. I thought about her karma. I thought about the karma of the human race. How can one person cause the destruction of so much beauty in such an instant?

~ We were apes before we spoke of sin
The cosmos sits on the tip of a pin ~