A Year Ago My Life Changed. Here's How I Dealt.

As a born-and-raised Palisadian, I wanted to share what I remember most about the fires - not to dwell on the tragedy (and there is plenty), but because I don't want to forget the humanity.

It's easy to only remember the trauma. The fear. The traumatic uncertainty. Our whole family and dog holed up in a hotel room night after night, watching local news and refreshing the Watch Duty app for real-time updates on what was burning.

But what I'd rather remember are the moments of humanity. The feeling of love from across the nation - reading comments on social media. I cannot describe the feeling when you realize people (friends, companies, strangers) just... show up for you.

Here are some of the people and acts of humanity I remember from a year ago this week, when my family was freezing (we didn't evacuate with much) and reeling. 

• Emily brought us a lasagna
• Renee gave me a goodie bag with tea and took me to lunch
• Jennifer brought me a warm blanket
• Kathleen and Lisa cooked us dinner, let me take a bath (weekly, for months), and hosted my boys for a night
• Merritt gave me keys to her office so I could work and donated her client's skincare and cosmetics to my group of friends who had lost everything
• Miranda brought me a muzzle for my anxious dog and got me office supplies - scissors, tape, all those random things you suddenly need
• Joanna brought us sweatshirts and mugs and let me use her house as an office

Companies showed up too:

• Alo opened their stores and let people take what they needed
• Reformation offered to replace the jacket I'd just bought my daughter for Christmas but didn't evacuate with
• Citizens of Humanity gave the whole family jeans
• Quince offered a gift card for essentials
• Lala Land and Luxxe Cafe gave us free coffee for over a month. Firefighters might still be getting coffee
• On Cloud gave me and my friend who lost her home sneakers

And more than just the things we needed - people showed up. For hugs and offers and love.

I have always been guided by the mantra to look for the good, and in the face of disaster, the good was abundant. We cannot have light without shadow. I would never wish what happened to my community on anyone. But since it happened, I will always choose to remember these poignant moments of pure love.

Look for the good. Be the good.