The holidays are a time for celebration, but they also provide a space for reflection.
ĢĒŠÄvlog“«Ć½ has been High Park Fire. Like the other 258 homeowners who lost property and personal belongings, theyāre struggling to maintain old traditions this seasonāwhile making new ones.
Sharon and Mike Guli have had a lot of āfirstsā over the past six months. And this week marks another one: the first Christmas since the fire. It will also be the first time that one of Mikeās sons returns from his home in China to see the fireās destruction.
āOne of the interesting things is he said, āDad, I want to go up and cut a Christmas tree.ā I said āThere are no Christmas trees left. The woods are gone.ā So that was an interesting conversation we had.ā
The Guliās arenāt alone in losing this tradition. in Rist Canyon. But for Adam, who hasnāt yet seen the High Park Fire destruction, Sharon knows heās in for a surprise.
āHeās seen photographs that weāve shared online and in emails. And heās been practical and encouraging to his dad and I since this all happened. But seeing it for real and seeing it face to face. And when we mentioned itās not the same Christmas tree scenario,ā she says. āWhat few little perfect Christmas trees are here weāre going to let them grow big.ā
Itās a small adjustment. But itās one of a million changes Sharon and Mike have had to make since the fire. They continue to live on their land in a studio building in which they run their historic clothing businesses.
āWeāre finding itās coming in stages. Weāll take a week and a half going all out cutting down trees, taking volunteer help, hiring people. And then we have to stop and shift back into business mode, and we pour ourselves into whatever deadlines need to be met immediately. We get that caught up. Then we shift back to the land. Then we shift back to the business,ā says Sharon.
While finding physical breaks is hard, finding mental and emotional ones is even harder when youāre living on the land where your home was destroyed. Both Mike and Sharon say they are looking for the slower pace of the holidays to catch their breath.
āI canāt continually focus on the land right now,ā says Mike. āIāll take a timeout and focus on the next phase.ā
Sharon adds: āWeāre going to try to take the next 2-4 weeks and go to family, relaxing, the holidays and what work has to be done for the business in that time."
ā¦and while it wasnāt exactly what their son, Adam was looking for, they traveled into Fort Collins and bought a small Christmas tree--decorating it with the ornaments and tinsel they salvaged from the fire.
