emergency response

There are a couple of current threads on Making Light about how sensible people should react to emergencies, and of course news and conversations are saturated with talk of people picking up and leaving home. With this in mind, I put a few basic first aid supplies in the backpack I usually carry. There's already a bottle of aspirin, tea bags, sunblock, a light jacket, and other generally useful items. There's often a bottle of water in there as well.

The fire alarm went off around 2am. I was deeply asleep. I managed to get myself more-or-less dressed, with wallet and phone in my pockets. I went back for glasses when I passed the point where memory can substitute for vision. I went back for keys at the door of the apartment. I was down four flights of stairs when I realized I did not have the backpack, and I chose not to go back for it. In the parking lot, I realized my critical meds were not in the backpack anyhow, which is an aspect of my emergency response that needs to change. I'm not sure how, just now. Maybe I'll think more clearly when it's not the middle of the night and I haven't just been scared out of my wits by a false alarm, and spent half an hour next to the lights of a fire truck.

My building is fine. My apartment is fine. My bed is fine. It's just over there, and I'm going there in a moment. Me? I expect I'll be fine soon.