So, like many other Sonoma County residents, we had the odd experience of deciding what items to take upon leaving the house for safer places. It was a luxury, really -- the friends whose houses burned so suddenly on that Sunday night had no warning at all, and were lucky to get out of their houses with clothes, shoes, wallets and pets. I thought about what was truly irreplaceable, and loaded my car with family photographs, some quilts, some personal treasures of sentimental value, personal papers, and suitcases for each of us. It was strange, I tell you, and in a weird way I felt like I was saying goodbye to everything I didn't put in the car.