So here’s the toll on the places in Paradise that were important to me, only one of which still affects my family.
Here is the home my grandparents built and retired in. It was filled with love, great food, music, and so many of my best childhood memories. I haven’t seen it since they passed away, but there was something comforting about just knowing it still existed.
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Here is the home my cousins grew up in. Visiting here was as fun to me as going to Disneyland. They haven’t lived in it for many years, but I still know its floor plan and furniture like it was yesterday.
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This was the home my family lived in when I was age 2-4. It’s the first home I have any memories of.
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The church we attended when we visited. Over the years I helped bear three caskets through those doors where those flames are destroying the same couches and artwork you see in your chapel every Sunday.
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Finally, the home of my Aunt, and her book bindery business, the only one in California north of the Bay Area (I think). She had just remodeled and was so proud of the results. She had a medical appointment in Chico the morning the fire broke out. That may have saved her life.
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I certainly don’t mean to portray myself as a victim of this fire. My aunt is a victim who faces difficult decisions. I share this mainly to demonstrate the near totality of destruction in a town of 30k. And to mourn the loss of places so meaningful to my upbringing.
Here is the home my grandparents built and retired in. It was filled with love, great food, music, and so many of my best childhood memories. I haven’t seen it since they passed away, but there was something comforting about just knowing it still existed.
37AD3AD4-8644-4A45-8EC1-D23CB0CF2969.jpg
Here is the home my cousins grew up in. Visiting here was as fun to me as going to Disneyland. They haven’t lived in it for many years, but I still know its floor plan and furniture like it was yesterday.
839764C5-2D15-4BE2-9D12-D2507098FB2F.jpg
This was the home my family lived in when I was age 2-4. It’s the first home I have any memories of.
70CB0A24-0BCF-409F-AB53-A21E5144130E.jpg
The church we attended when we visited. Over the years I helped bear three caskets through those doors where those flames are destroying the same couches and artwork you see in your chapel every Sunday.
32704B1D-984B-4B37-B55E-68305C628F3A.jpg
Finally, the home of my Aunt, and her book bindery business, the only one in California north of the Bay Area (I think). She had just remodeled and was so proud of the results. She had a medical appointment in Chico the morning the fire broke out. That may have saved her life.
0546F8D4-C053-43EF-8AE0-8A472D17B16B.jpg
I certainly don’t mean to portray myself as a victim of this fire. My aunt is a victim who faces difficult decisions. I share this mainly to demonstrate the near totality of destruction in a town of 30k. And to mourn the loss of places so meaningful to my upbringing.
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