I have no idea why these events have been on my mind so much recently. Maybe because it’s the same time of year? I had a rough couple of months during my 12th year on earth but learned some valuable lessons in the process. On November 2nd 1993 my mom’s house burned down in the Malibu fires. Just like that. Burned to the ground. I remember that morning vividly and thinking it was a beautiful day. So blue. So bright. Not a cloud in the sky. My mom dropped me off at school just like any other day. My life was pretty ordinary. I had no idea that everything was going to change and that just like that I would lose all my things. My sock monkey from when I was a baby. The video of me at 6 telling my mom that skiing “just wasn’t my kinda sport”. A good portion of my baby photos. All my things. My special things. Our house was the only house on the block that burned down too. Totally unfair I thought. A tiny ember flying in the wind landed on our house and burned it to the ground. How strange is that.
Two months later on January 17th 1994 my dad’s house crumbled in an earthquake…with us in it. As you can imagine I remember that pretty vividly as well. When the shaking started I remember thinking it was a dream. That I was in a dream. Then my mini tv fell on me and I realized that I wasn’t in a dream. The shaking felt like it went on forever. I think it was only 15 seconds but it was the longest 15 seconds of my life. Then it went quiet and the rumbling stopped and I could hear my Dad screaming my name because he couldn’t get my door open. It was jammed. I remember standing at the door frozen with shock. We somehow managed to get out of the house without being seriously hurt.
These two events taught me that life can sometimes be totally unfair, unpredictable and scary. Everything can change in an instant. We never know when the rug is going to be pulled out from underneath us but I also learned that wrapped up in difficult moments are beautiful lessons. I have very little attachment to things anymore. They don’t define me. I also am very adaptable because of these events. Truly you could stick me anywhere and I would be fine. Beautiful lessons sometimes come wrapped in shitty packages.
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