A List of Things I Lost in the Fire

20 objects (some funny) that are gone but live on in my memory

In January my family’s home burned down during the fires in Los Angeles. It was sudden and scary and painful. I began making a list of things in my notes of objects I lost when the house burned down. Some of them are very funny because they are so incredibly stupid, some are mundane, and others were meaningful.

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1. My cast signed Glee Season 1 CD.

   I had waited in line for hours at the Barnes and Noble at the mall when I was 12 or 13 to get it signed by some cast members at a meet and greet. I do not remember which ones but I am certain at least two of the people that signed the CD are dead, which probably would have made it a collector’s item.

2. A pair of bike shorts I borrowed at sleep-away camp from a childhood friend I no longer have relationship with when we were 15 years old that were too tight to begin with.

3. My collection of thrifted Babysitters Club books.

   They were technically from my childhood, but I began reading the series at an age older than the intended audience despite having a high reading level because I found them very comforting, so I kept them for nostalgia.

4. A shoebox of 100+ note cards cataloging various paintings, buildings, and sculptures I made for AP Art History in high school.

   My art history teacher had us make notecards for every period with a list of works. The cards had their titles, artists, dates, and any other important info on one side and a printed out image on the other. I kept all of my notecards because it was this class that introduced me to art history, my life-long love, and despite doing not very well in the class it was a monumental moment in my life.

5. A Betsy Johnson watch with dead batteries and a leopard print wristband that I loved when I was 13.

6. The pink and white stuffed bunny given to me by a neighbor that lived in the same courtyard townhouses as me and my mom when I was a child.

   Her name was Claire and she must have been in her 30’s or so. I would go over and spend time with her because she had two rabbits and I didn’t have pets. She had cancer, at some point, was very kind, and thought my mother’s name was “Carol” instead of “Cheryl”, my mom felt too guilty to correct her.

7. Bras from high school that no longer fit me

8. A very cool customized pearly-pink satin bomber jacket with my Grandpa’s name, “Jerry”, embroidered in silver thread on the front. On the back was the name of the musical he had produced, also in silver thread.

   One of the last trips we were down in LA, my husband suggested we bring it back up to the Bay Area with us and I said no because I was worried it would get messed up. I am still actively not over this one.

9. The copy of Mein Kampf I insisted on buying when I was taking AP Euro despite being Jewish because I felt the need to read the primary source firsthand.

   I never read it and my mom was pissed about it.

10. The silver, scratchy, dress I got from TopShop to wear to the photo-taking part of my Senior Prom.

    I was incredibly depressed at the time and only went to someone’s house for pictures but not the actual prom itself. The dress was mini with a halter neck that cut into my skin and was made of an itchy fabric that made it feel like I was getting a rash. I look miserable in the photos and don’t know why I insisted on keeping the dress.

11. The iPod Nano I used during my first year of college when I would take the bus to the campus from my grandparents apartment where I was living.

12. An iMac my mom and I shared throughout my time in high school that had a desktop that was so unorganized from all my Tumblr screenshots that it literally could not function and you could not see the screensaver.

    I am almost certain there were also some really incriminating photos of me on there so its good that it’s ash.

13. Books from my childhood that I was saving for my children

    Some titles include: a vast catalogue of Roald Dahl books, a large yellow book of George and Martha stories, and my uncle’s box collection of the Chronicles of Narnia from when he was a child.

14. A collection of seashells and sand dollars.

15. My vintage english copies of Tintin and Asterix and Obelix comics.

    My dad grew up reading these books when he was raised in Kenya and Pakistan and had encouraged my brother and I to read them too. I loved to read them and have many memories of enjoying them while lounging on a sunny twin-sized bed while savoring a Toblerone.

16. The first ever eyeshadow palette I bought in middle school.

    It was a quad by MAC, and little bottles of MAC glitter pigment that reminded me of what someone would put on for New Years Eve. They were all very expired, but I felt bad throwing them out since there was so much product so they just sat in the cabinet instead.

17. A t-shirt from the first concert I attended as a teenager.

    It was from Vampire Weekend’s “Modern Vampires of the City” tour and did not fit me the way I wanted it to. But I kept it out of nostalgia and in hopes that somehow my tits got smaller.

18. A wooden pencil sharpener with different size holes for various pencils a guy I was hooking up with when I was 18 gave me from some trip he went on.

    I was not super into him but he was nice. It was a good pencil sharpener. I ended things with him very badly (as in I did a very bad job and cried because I felt bad). Afterwards he had to drive me back to LA from his place in the Valley because I didn’t have a drivers license.

19. My high school photo IDs.

20. A poem I wrote to my mom for mother’s day one year that was full of grammatical errors that I was old enough to have avoided.

    I used the wrong form of "your.” She framed it anyway.

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I usually write more intensive and less personal pieces here, but they tend to take quite some time to research and craft. I decided it would be fun to try something new while I’m in the midst of research for my next 4000+ word cultural criticism essay.

I hope you stick around to read it!