Theater of the Soul

Bane has recommended the battery-free Ready Freddy emergency kit. It’s not a bad little kit, but I’m not sure how much faith I’d put into a pre-built emergency kit.

Ever since our house burned down 11 years ago, I’ve always kept what are commonly known as ‘grab and go’ bags in each bedroom. Typically, I keep these bags stocked with 2 changes of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, granola bars, bottled water, flashlight, emergency whistle and a few creature comforts, such as books and small travel games. The thought behind these bags has always been that if my damn house burns down AGAIN, we’ll be able to leave this time with a little more than just the clothes on our backs.

9/11 reminded me of the importance of keeping a few supplies on hand, either in the car or in my office, in case I’m not at home when disaster strikes. I never thought of adding more than a couple of bottles of water and granola bars. I was fairly secure in my belief that it would never take longer than 12 hours for help to mobilize. After all, when my house burned down, the Red Cross was there before the fire was even put out, arranging clothing and hotel rooms. There was a very controlled and immediate response to 9/11, which, at the time, was the biggest disaster I had in my frame of reference.

Then, over the summer, came Hurricane Katrina and I was forced to look at possibilities that I had never considered. I never imagined that there could be such a complete and utter breakdown within local and state governments. I never thought for a second of the possibilities of total chaos reigning…looting, rape, murder. Anarchy. I looked at my little grab and go bags and laughed. They’re perfect in an emergency, like fire, where we have precious few seconds to evacuate the building, but they’re not going to save our asses in more extreme situations.

I began to wonder where I left our camping equipment. I tried to remember whether the lanterns were mine or The Ex’s. I began making a water plan. I researched how much weight I can reasonably expect each of my kids to be able to carry in a backpack. When I began to wonder about the wisdom of kicking The Ex to the curb (emergency preparedness would have been HIS problem and not mine), I realized that I’m going to be the one the kids look to to fix things should the shit hit the fan.

I also began to realize that I can’t be the ONLY single mother out there in this situation. Over the next few days, I’ll be writing a series of posts that explore the preparations that I’ve made for my family in hopes that the information might be of use to other women in similar situations. I’m not talking about gas masks and underground bunkers here…just simple things that EVERY woman and mother should do to prepare themselves.