January 2026

A Life Never Anticipated

By Catharine Deely
Posted: 03/02/2025

For months prior to the Eaton Fire I'd been saying how much I loved my life - my community & neighbors, friends, activities, my home.  Now my community and home are destroyed and neighbors died.  My friends and activities are even more important and I will have a place to live.  I'm not the same person.  

It's taken some time to respond to Dick's request as every day I'm processing moving through shock and anxiety; gratitude for friends who kept in constant touch and those who took me in and cared for me; exhaustion; now starting to face my grief for all the losses.

Never did I think that I would face real danger when escaping in the nick of time - because we had no notice via mobile or maps.  Never did I imagine that I would be fed by World Central Kitchen - as they help people around the world in crisis.  Never did I think I would have to ask for so much help from so many people - not having the mental capacity to do it all. Never did I expect that the rows of my sister's scrapbooks would receive this kind burning that I had hoped to do with a loving ritual.  

And, I am lucky.  I immediately received the max insurance coverage from Farmers Insurance.  I have friends who took me in for as long as I need without upsetting their daily lives.  I have funds to see me through options of next steps in my life.  I have room in my heart to give comfort and take in the tragic stories of others.

The question bedeviling me now is how to create a new home with a blank canvas without anything of memory or meaning.  Friends have given back to me artwork that I gave to them and an artist made a new piece for me.  It's a new chapter.