A Time For Support & Community

9 days feels like years already...

It’s only January 9th but as a friend said to me earlier today, it feels like we’ve lived years of 2025 already, not just 9 days. As I watch fires devastating entire cities, homes and lives, my heart breaks. I cringe at the misinformation over budget cuts and fire hydrants being empty, over people who say “it’s just stuff” or “let’s rebuild”…there is no room for any of that. NONE! This is a traumatic experience for those in Los Angeles, as well as those watching and reliving what happened to them in Paradise and Maui.

When you lose your home, you lose more than “stuff”. There are things that maybe to you and me or anyone else appears to be “stuff” but there’s significance behind it. In my closet, in a small box, there is a paper chain that is stuffed into a grocery bag. To a stranger, it’s just a paper chain that a kid probably made. To me, it’s the paper chain that I made with my father 38 years ago (2 years before he passed away). We were making it for Christmas, so it is red, white and green, but then I ran out of construction paper and it became a chain of all colors. I have taken this paper chain in a box with me to every home I’ve lived in since I graduated college in 2003. Somehow it has survived moves, being put up and taken down every Christmas, a puppy and two children. It is a memory as much as it is “stuff”.

When my mom lost our home in the Camp Fire, I had yet take my yearbooks from high school. The Christmas of 2018, my husband found a yearbook from my graduating year on eBay and bought it for me. It was the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received. Since then, a team came together to scan every single year of our high school yearbooks and have them reprinted for us. These are the “things” you don’t think about as what you might miss or what someone else might cherish. This is what I think about when I see Palisades High School and what is left of it. The graduating class whose plans were just upended and all of the other students who will now go to different schools, need clothes and meet new friends.

To rebuild is much more than a simple construction process. Aside from insurance, FEMA, land and environmental issues and tests, lawsuits, debris removal and more, there’s the question of “do we want to live here again and risk experiencing what we just went through again?”. What will the town be like without neighbors or stores and the conveniences we used to know?

This is going to be a long grieving period…one which never really goes away. There will be grief for those who live there, those who have lived there and even those who have simply visited and made memories. I’ve gone back to Paradise and it shook me to see what it looks like to day. Last year, we went to Maui and again were shook by what Lahaina now looks like. For those who choose to rebuild, there will most likely be a new emergency system with sirens put into place with monthly testing (there is in Paradise) and knowing that you will hear these sirens every month might trigger this moment again…it does for my mom. This time will not only cause grief but is a source of trauma for many.

From Rebuild Paradise

I grew up for 18 years in Paradise and I lived in Los Angeles after college for 2 years. Both of these places I have called home and I know that Los Angeles is a place many call home and love dearly.

Please remember these few things as you watch the news and listen to interviews, scroll through social media, consume information (and spot misinformation) and remember that right now is not about politics, placing blame or making false claims. It’s about supporting those we know and don’t know who have just lost a huge chunk of their lives. It’s a time to support our firefighters who are risking their lives to do the best they can. Firefighters who are leaving their homes and families to protect the homes and families of others. It’s a time to have compassion and empathy.

Life Lessons

Every week on the podcast, I bring you life lessons from my guests. This week, I interviewed Amy Wilson, author of Happy To Help. We discussed her life lesson of learning to stop being a people pleaser by always saying yes when asked to do something. This definitely resonated with me because I often will say “yes”. We discussed how people who take on a lot and get things done are often the ones who are asked to do more. There’s nothing wrong with being a doer, but there’s also nothing wrong with asking for help!

I also interviewed Victor Shi, youth campaign director for the Harris campaign. Victor started his political advocacy work at the age of 13 and has worked on numerous campaigns since then! The big life lesson we discussed is what we need to do to move forward in future elections…have more conversations and build community. I loved that Victor also brought up how podcasts can help us do both of those things! I definitely want to have more conversations, to build community online but also in person. So often we hear that “you’re never too old to start something new”, but Victor also teaches us that you’re never too young.

Yesterday I offered up a tip that I learned from my mom in 2018 which is to take a video of every room and closet in your house. This will help you if you should ever need to evacuate and leave things behind for insurance purposes. Also make list on your phone of what you’d need to grab or what’s most important (i.e. your dirty laundry because those are the clothes you wear the most, important documents, etc).

Take time this evening to hug your loved ones and take a break from the news and social media. Check on friends in the Los Angeles area, as well as any friends you know who might have been through another fire because I assure you they are feeling this as well.