The day I left Michigan for California I dropped off one last box to Goodwill and in it was an ice scraper for my car. As I brought the box inside a man noticed the scraper sticking out of the box. “You don’t think you’ll need that?” He asked. I proudly responded “Not where I’m going!” and with that, I was off to the west coast. I think about this interaction often, wishing I could find this man to apologize for the amount of arrogance I projected because yes, I would in fact need that car scraper.
Not for the snow, though I would eventually purchase one for winter road trips, for something I had not even considered…ash.
I had braced myself for the imminent threat of earthquakes in California but was blindsided by the bigger and more common natural disaster, wildfires. Yup, ignorant midwesterner here!
This realization came quick, as one of San Diego’s biggest fires would take place only 2 months after I moved. As I wiped the powdery grey residue from my car windows with nothing but a scrap piece of paper I recognized the irony, the epiphany permanently cemented in my brain that I was indeed, just an asshole.