The Los Angeles Fires and the Precious Objects We Can't Replace

When I got home from early dismissal on January 7th and was told I only had 15 minutes to pack my possessions before my family and I had to evacuate, I was forced to think about what was most valuable to me. It wasn’t the money that was hidden in my desk or my expensive shoes that I had bought a year ago but rather my Nonna’s Monchichi dolls that had been passed down for generations, the mini ketchup bottle that my dad had given to me when I was 7, and my journal and sketchbooks where all of my most secret ideas and entries are written. I think the things I frantically packed into my pink, plastic suitcase reveal something about myself; it shows me just how sentimental I am. When you have to pack your whole life up into a medium-sized suitcase in the fear that what was once yours won't be there when you come back, your mind begins to race. I’ve thought about what I would need to pack in the event of an emergency before. Basic things like my passport and keys originally filled this list, but it is only when you actually experience the “hypothetical” emergency that you truly know what you value.

It might be seen as materialistic to place so much worth on physical objects, but it's not. Society tells us that it is the people we are surrounded by that really matter, which is true, but incomplete. To me and many others, objects that have sentimental value are almost as important as the people who gave them to us. Sure, we can hold memories of the objects and the experiences surrounding them, but to actually be able to hold the object and know that it bears a part of another person within it, is a different feeling. My heart goes out to those who lost their most precious possessions in the fires, things that they can’t replace. Whether it be letters from a loved one, pictures documenting your youth, or sentimental jewelry, we all deserve to have a part of that with us, and to cherish special objects for their memories.