Drippin’ Life

As a writer, I interview people from all walks and from all situations. Some are celebrating while others are in the middle of the worst time in their lives. As I interview and get to know them, I automatically empathize with them, put myself in their shoes – or try. At the very least, I walk with them on their journey…because I’m only human.

This past week, I spoke to a survivor of the Camp Creek Fire in California…and I can’t stop thinking about the people who survived the destruction of Paradise.

A resident of Paradise for the past 30 years, Eric Smith works as a funeral director and manager for funeral homes in Paradise and Oroville, towns located in a valley in the Sierra Madres. He and his wife, both in their mid-50s, have been married for more than 30 years. They have two adult daughters. One lives in Washington state. The other had moved home because she had been transferred to Chico and was waiting for her new apartment to become available.

After the fire swept through their idyllic community, nothing was left of their block and neighborhood was their fireplace and chimney. Of their 10 neighbors, none are planning to rebuild. One neighbor – a young couple – had been moved in two short weeks before the fire.

Eric, who grew up in the little town of Blue River, Oregon, loves the outdoors and depending on the season, loves to snowshoe, pan for gold, hunt and fish. The outdoors for him is his second home – and now, like his residence, that is gone.

“It looks like a war zone,” he said. “That’s the only way I can describe it. Burned out appliances scattered everywhere. Burned out cars pushed out of the way, like snow in drifts on each side of the road.”

Eric’s home is gone. He went back to the site with a shovel and a sifting screen, but cut his visit short. “I found something my father gave me, something from my grandfather. Burned but still recognizable, but barely. Staying was futile.”

Currently, he, his wife and daughter live in his sister’s 34-foot travel trailer (their cat was found after the fire. His daughter’s cat wasn’t as lucky). “It feels smaller every day,” he admitted.

The Camp Creek Fire burned 44,000 structures in Paradise. It took 87 lives. Ten residents are still missing. Eric feels fortunate. He has lost everything his family accumulated over the past three decades, but, as he said, his family is intact, as are his memories. “I see families in limbo. Their loved ones lost in the fire haven’t been released from the coroner’s office in Chico. All they can think about is their loved one’s last, tortured moments. As a funeral director, I am committed to make a family’s darkest days easier…to walk through the valley.

Eric said his community has come together. “Whatever somebody needs, the community, the churches, the various agencies come together to make sure they don’t go without. This weekend, a sporting goods firm is hosting a barbecue and will be giving away sporting gear to replace what residents of Paradise lost. How people have come together is the best possible aftermath of such a devastating event,” he said.

There is a single website, identified by the folks in Paradise as the only one giving 100 percent of donations directly to the survivors of The Camp Fire. The site is: paradisestong.org.

I also can’t stop thinking about the kids – not just the ones in the cages at the repurposed Wal-Mart building but also the teens and pre-teens at Stalag Tornillo (the detention camp that’s way overpriced and way below state prison standards.)

It’s Christmas, for heaven’s sake. Wonder what Christmas Day looks like for them? As I write this, I realize these thoughts may sound like they have political undertones. They don’t…and I cannot apologize for my feelings as a woman, mom, grandmother and U.S. citizen. My greatest fear about these immigrant detention camps? That they are really serving as incubators for future terrorists-against-America.

I also can’t stop thinking about our troops at the border. These are the same men and women who’ve served our country in war zones, who’ve watched their buddies die in IED explosions and suicide bombings. They definitely don’t deserve to be on the U.S. Mexico border, stringing concertina wire and eating freeze-dried rations. Whatever it takes – flooding the Pentagon with letters, petitions and emails -- our troops deserve to be with their families for the holidays…and their children need to be with mom or dad at Christmas time…and as we prepare for the joyous season ahead, I can’t stop thinking….