Staying home
Editor: Twenty-five years ago I bought a home in the community of Windsor, participated in local politics, accepted an appointment to the Senior Citizens Advisory Commission, and established myself in the town I now consider to be my home for the rest of my life.
Then the Tubbs Fire of 2017 destroyed several community neighborhoods in nearby Santa Rosa, destroying the continuity of the lives of a dozen or more personal friends, colleagues, acquaintances and neighbors. It destroyed landmarks around Santa Rosa I was accustomed to, restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores and the landscape.
The Paradise Fire of 2018 then destroyed a town in the California Gold Country of roughly the same population as Windsor.
In October, the Kincade Fire came to within one-quarter mile of destroying twenty-five years of my life; the property over which I had made my marriage vows was threatened with destruction and ultimately burned over, the winery that hosted our wedding reception was destroyed, and the house I live in was threatened, as evidenced by the blackened oak and Manzanita leaves in our yard, the cinder burns on backyard apples, and the ember-singed hole in a piece of lawn furniture in a neighbor’s back yard two doors down.
I nearly lost everything, my home, my land and my community.
What would happen to my family if the fire had destroyed everything? Where would I take them to make a “new start,” to re-build what we had lost? The answer is there is no such place for me now. This is home and is where I plan to stay.
Brent E. Anderson
Windsor
