We were evacuated last week due to the wildfires here in Colorado. We moved back home on Sunday and I brought my horses back yesterday. I'm so grateful that our home and our neighborhood was untouched by the fire.

I'm thinking everything should be normal again, but I can't seem to pull myself together. During the fire/evacuation I was busy every minute of the day. Out by 6 am and didn't get back until 6 pm or later every day. I had my own horses to take care of, plus the horses where I work were evacuated. We had medical issues, had to get hay out of the barn (needed a police escort for that; that was exciting) had to chase down horses that had busted through the fence and then fix the fence the horses ran through. I was completely on top of things during that time.

Now...I can't remember what day it it. Yesterday I left the house with the barn door open and water running. I didn't turn off the tv in the house. I can't sit down without falling asleep for two hours.

I realize this is some sort of delayed reaction to the last week, but can anyone tell me how long this will last? I can't see taking any time off until the weekend at the earliest, so I need to get through this somehow.

Any advice?

I went through something sort of similar with hurricane sandy. The night it hit was scary. I was home with the two kids, because DH works at the hospital he had to be there, and of course got stuck there. I could feel the house shake when trees fell. We were surrounded by trees, so I brought myself and the kids into the middle of the house in a walk in closet and stayed in there incase a tree came through the house. But it didn't end there, we were without power for over a week and it was freezing at night. I was home with the kids since DH was at work...and as if there wasn't enough stress, I was pregnant, but started miscarrying the morning before the hurricane hit, so that went on for a few days after. I think during a time of stress we run an adrenaline, we function because we have to and really, evolutionariliy speaking, our "survival" depends on it. People that fall apart under those situations thousands of year ago would ahve been at a huge disadvantage...

After our power came back on and life got back to normal (at least for us, snce our home did not flood) it was time to decompress, Although because our area was and still is in recovery mode, it didn't feel over, but for our immediate family it kind of was.

There was a period after that where I just felt blah and out of it. I tried not to do to much, and just focused on getting back to normal. I can't say that that I became absent minded, although I guess I did a little because we completetly forgot about my son's soccer pictures, which we were petty upset about. We totally missed the picture taking session.

My DH and I have notied in hind sight that the time following sandy is a blurr. On the subject of pics again, DH and I were wondering why our son didnt have his school pics takken..turns out they were in November and we order them! Its like the few weeks following we don't have as much memory of anything unless it was related to the hurricane. smaller events we forgot, if that makes any sense??

I'm usre you will fell back to normal soon. If our memory loss is any clue, we start having better memories of life a few weeks after...so I guess it took that long to start to refocus on everything, where the hurricane wasn't THE center of our thoughts.

I can totally understand what you mean. I was doing really good working out regularly and eating right and then in one day everything changed. The tornado hit in Moore,Ok which is where I live and everyday I go outside and it looks like I live in the middle of a war zone. Seeing all the rubble day in and day out puts me back in the closet where I was hiding waiting til it past so I could just be reconnected with my little boy again. The tornado hit directly behind his school. I had to wait hours before I could make it less than a mile down the street just to find out if he was okay. I have slowly been dealing with and just getting back into our routines but it was stressful but it also left me very grateful to be here and to be alive because so many parents didn't get to run up and hug there children that day.

Thanks for responding. I'm so sorry you both had to go through those events. At least I was able to drive away from the fire.

I guess it just takes some time to process everything that happened.

Thanks so much for sharing your stories with me.

When the tornado hit, those of us here, our hearts really went out to you. There was frequent mentio of the aftermath in comparison to sandy, and our govenor spoke about it too. I remember how aweful it was, having everything in shambles around us. I'm about 5 minutes from Manoloking, and most of the homes are still half standing, with parts crumbled...yes, it does feel like war zone..and yes seeing everyday makes normal life hard to get back to. Its hard when the rest of the country is done talking about you on the news, but it doesn't mean everything is ok. Or worse, people that say you deserve it because of where you live. We got a lot of that as well.

I can't imagine how scary that must have been, especially in the time you were seperate from your son. It might seem impossible now, but life does slowly go back to normal. It helps to go to areaa that weren't as badly effected. Also as they get rid of debris and rebuild, things feel better.

I'm sorry you went through this. It does get easier. Though I will say I am very afraid of hurricane season this year, even though I never have been. I don't know how long you lived in Oklahoma, but if tornado season never really bothered you...like for us, we are used to hurricane season and we've never have a storm like that in my lifetime...well, it leaves behind a lot of nervousness...but I'm sure that's common.

No advice. Just wanted to let you ladies know that you're all in my thoughts and prayers. Can't imagine what you went through and are still going through. The fact that you're trying to recover some semblance of normalcy including eating well is incredible. I hope you all find some well deserved peace.

We stay in the springs during the summer. Last summer we were house-sitting and got evacuated because of the Waldo canyon fire. We had to pack up our stuff (we were living out of suitcases) and the owners' stuff and flee to another friends' house.

This summer we're in briargate about 4 miles from the fire. We didn't get evacuated, but when the fire first started it brought back all those feelings of panic. Even now I get sweaty palms thinking about it.

It's really hard. Just try to be in the moment while you're doing stuff. I don't really know how long it lasts, sorry, maybe a couple weeks?

Sleep, exercise, spending time with friends, and talking about it will help your stress go down.