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Pacific Palisades alone lost 9000 homes. That is 9000 families! Families made up of multiple people. Just imagine the complexities within that number.
A close friend of mine lost everything in a house fire a few winters ago. She still suffers such ptsd. I’m glad you and yours are safe and I’m so sorry for all you lost. 🫂
When I was 7, feels like 100 years ago, our house burned in one of those big Santa Ana wind fires. Someone said this to me, and I never got over the way I felt disrespected. I was glad all our people and cats survived, but my heart stayed broken for a long time. I'm so sad today, for so many people.
I couldn’t imagine losing all of the stupid things that I’ve collected over the years whether it’s T-shirts or books or records or my scrapbook from when I was a child. These are all physical things that make up a part of who I am or at least an extension of it. Simply devastating.
Many people will take huge financial hits that will affect their ability to provide for their family and fund their old age. Yes, many of the houses will be rebuilt -- by someone else -- as families are forced to liquidate in order to survive.
Boom. Correct. Major life event. It's the realization that you are NOT in control always. That there is something bigger out there, more powerful. That comes with little or no warning.
And it’s your entire work wardrobe, all of your shoes, the sweater your mom got back from her trip, the chair you rocked your babies to sleep in, the good bathrobe you finally got for yourself.
Replacing all of that stuff is so much work, incredibly expensive, and not all of it can be replaced.
Yeah I’m kind of dismayed at all the responses I see to celebrities like: you can afford another house. So what, it still must be devastating for your house to burn down no matter how much money you have
I say it's just stuff because I lost "all my stuff". No details needed and not saying to my my closest friends ever in PPalisades who had home burn down. But all I know is..they are alive. That's all that matters at this moment.
Thank you for saying this. My dear college friend lost her home and artist studio in the Eaton fire. All her artwork destroyed along with everything else she owned. It’s right to mourn the loss of the things we chose to bring into our lives.
Art’s NOT stuff… my late husband entire body of work exists in a single huge metal box which I drag around with me. I don’t want to think how terrible it would be if I had to evacuate with that.
When my house burned down last year and I lost my cat and everything I own a surprising number of ppl said that to me and all I could do was force a smile. They don’t realize how jarring it is to suddenly only have the clothes on your back.
they really are! he was a character. never hissed a day in his life till i brought my beagle home a few months before the fire (thankfully the dog got out with me)
Some of that stuff is pictures and Momentos of their whole life. I can’t imagine the trauma and of course it’s nothing like losing a person or Pet. We all know that but I agree that’s a pretty cruel thing to say to someone.
YES. I remember, after Katrina, laying in bed 1500 miles away from New Orleans. All I wanted to do was lay on my own couch and read a magazine. I was grateful to be safe but I missed my stuff, bc stuff is what makes your life your life. Both things can be true.
It’s your entire life gone. I’m in Houston and my community college took in dozens of kids whose college records had been destroyed and we tested them and placed them & tried to get them back on course with their education.
I was so proud of the three I got in my classroom. They all made it thro.
When I was a kid, a house fire severely damaged our home. I still remember the charred and blackened walls and, most particularly I can still smell the smoke damage in my picture books. Weird things to remember but it sticks out to me.
L.A. people lost personal necessities, family photos, heirlooms, antiques and, because many were in the entertainment industry, probably all sorts of valuables from their careers that can never be replaced… awards, costumes, scripts, props, and things they would have eventually donated to museums.
And artists losing studios- not just revenue and income, but the records and evidence of your creative and professional life. Absolutely devastating for those folks.
Thank you. Long before the pandemic it was clear this country suffers from a lack of empathy; it’s a lack that, in part, seems like a predictable consequence of bootstraps thinking. (Suck it up crybaby!) The often mocking and clueless (at best) East Coast media coverage of LA probably doesn’t help.
We were evacuated in 1998. I will never forget the agony of deciding what to cram into the trunk of the car, and what to leave behind. Turns out "memento" is not a trivial concept after all.
I can't even begin the imagine the financial, emotional, physical and psychological toll of rebuilding: buying clothing, cookware, home office, every single toiletry, tools you need to rebuild, EVERYTHING
That's only if you're young enough to re-earn the money all over again that it'll cost to obtain all the "stuff". Many folks are past that point. They'll never be able to recover it all. Loss of any kind is a killer of hope. Gotta hold on to hope, #1.
A friend of Lawrence O'Donnell's who just lost everything said last night, it's not even the house so much as it is, in fact, the stuff - the tangible, memory-saturated manifestation and record of our life history in a home. To lose all those markers and touchstones is devastating.
Photo albums
Framed pictures/art that meant enough to make it to your wall
Handmade quilts
Heirloom ornaments/decor/religious paraphanelia
Children's art
Childhood mementos
Computers/harddrives (possibly w/o backup)
Heirloom furniture
Growth charts
Etc.
Yeah no matter the tragedy this is never an acceptable response. That "stuff" is the accumulation of a lifetime of hard work and dedication not to mention all of the sentimental items that can never be replaced. Do better
Someone said that to me after my mother died and I said no she’d have rather stayed with us. And her home was with my father not your imaginary friend Jesus.
People have little respect for the losses of others. Being the introvert I am, I have quite the perspective of how fucked up most people are. It's an insensitive world we live in.
The fucked up things people say to those suffering never cease to amaze me. I am deeply sorry for your loss. There are no words that would even be adequate to say to you, but idiots out there should learn to offer condolences and a shoulder and then shut the fuck up.
Exactly. It’s not so much the edifice but what happened in it. Family events and memories that are completely gone. And yes, even tangible things like family heirlooms and photos that are irreplaceable.
Exactly. And I'll add that rich or poor, celebrity or not, every victim in this has lost something irreplaceable - a photo, a memento, an heirloom. It's traumatic for all, so how about folks try compassion and empathy.
Yeah, the "stuff" inside is one thing, but a home is sanctuary. It's your place that you can rest your head and feet after work. A place to eat and relax and shower and sleep in. A place that isn't so replaceable.
I don't have any useful information or important news to pass along so am just not using any keywords or commenting entirely (except for this one, pedants). It's really fun! More people should try!
Yes, absolutely! "I'm glad you're alive" means I value your existence. "You should be glad you're alive" basically just says that since you're not dead you should stop whining about losing everything else. It's belittling.
I haven't heard this. But I have heard interviews of people who evacuated, saying they were sad they were leaving, but their lives were much more important than their "stuff." That's a good message.
Comments
The ones who’ve lost their homes can say it but we should proactively shut our mouths.
Pacific Palisades alone lost 9000 homes. That is 9000 families! Families made up of multiple people. Just imagine the complexities within that number.
Replacing all of that stuff is so much work, incredibly expensive, and not all of it can be replaced.
Because fuck him.
I was so proud of the three I got in my classroom. They all made it thro.
Photo albums
Framed pictures/art that meant enough to make it to your wall
Handmade quilts
Heirloom ornaments/decor/religious paraphanelia
Children's art
Childhood mementos
Computers/harddrives (possibly w/o backup)
Heirloom furniture
Growth charts
Etc.