Always be thankful, kind and filled with genuine gratitude

We sit three-in-a-row along Highway 2 — the communities of Sandpoint, Priest River, and Newport — having, according to the 2017 census, a population total of 12,341. What if they were not there? Substitute a city more than twice their combined size gone up in flames — and you’ve got the recent Camp Fire destruction in northern California.

Along with the town of Paradise, 156 square miles have burned. A square mile is 640 acres. At peak fire speed — a football field per second — terrain is insatiably devoured.

I cannot conceive of 6,700 structures demolished, most of them homes. Where are these people going to go in the long term? What neighboring community has that much real estate for sale or rent? How do you rebuild thousands of houses and hundreds of businesses in enough time for people to regain their local livelihoods? Where, how, can the children go to school? Where will they hold memorial services for those whose lives were lost?

My niece and husband in nearby Chico were packed and ready to leave. Having myself evacuated in the 1996 Miller’s Reach wildfire in Alaska I told them if they had to go, take the irreplaceable — not the valuable. As ridiculous as it seems now, I berated myself after our big scare for leaving behind my collection of handwritten recipes.

The Paradise people had no time to gather anything. There is nothing in the ash to go back and find. They are homeless and townless. Some of them have lived their entire lives there. It is what they know. Their memories were born and raised in that place.

My mind will not let me conjure a non-existent smoldering Sandpoint and Priest River and Newport — with everything in between gone. Last Thursday morning, two weeks before Thanksgiving, no one in Paradise could visualize such a thing about their town, either.

There is one obvious way North Idahoans can pay tribute to northern Californians. In this season of Thanksgiving we can be deep down thankful. Thankful for our towns, our homes, our families, our jobs, our businesses.

We can shed the petty stuff, scrape it off as with that extra gravy on the plate on Thanksgiving Day. Greet one another with genuine gratitude. Thank those who work for good in our communities. Support local business. Share with others who are in tough times. Appreciate the natural beauty we wake to every day.

We can be and do thankful. Because we know it’s true — it’s paradise along Highway 2.