Black Forest fire

My parents bought this land in Black Forest Colorado in 1974, in part to appease a teenage girl who was bereft at having to leave the Colorado she loved for the unknowns of life in Korea. In part, this land brought me back to Colorado in 1979, giving up a full scholarship to Auburn to go to Colorado State University.

Land in Colorado heals slowly. The trees in this forest will not return in my lifetime.

509 people homes burned, and countless other buildings. But some of the animals survived. There is a little bunny now living under the rubble of the garage doors. My family puts food and water down for him.

The Colorado of the 1970's is hard to find today. I left in 2006. Water is in increasingly, severely limited supply; housing developments and highways blanket the front range from Cheyenne to Pueblo. Traffic sounds have replaced the sound of wind through the tall grass prairie.

Since leaving Colorado, I have come back for family and friends, but I no longer feel any connection to the land. My heart is now in the Ozarks, with our forested plateaus and deep, rugged valleys. I love the Ozark rivers and lakes and people and life.

I'm headed home to the Ozarks today, still worried about my parents and brother and sister-in-law. They are in safe places and sorting through. There is still so much work to be done on the property, hard, physical work. And then, it's going to take a good bit of time to deal with the insurance, and the sifiting and the minutiae of life that has to be put back together now. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. And thanks to everybody who has helped so far.

Words just don't express...

Iris coming back up through the cracked and melted glass that was my parent's bedroom window.