What My Friends Gave Me When My House Burned Down

After I lost my home in Pacific Palisades, I was showered with presents. These are the ones that made me feel like I was starting to rebuild my life.

- BY JUSTINE HARMAN

ON THE MORNING of January 7, I was finishing up a yoga class on the second floor of a studio a mile from my home in the hills of Pacific Palisades. At 10:31 a.m.—moments after mouthing “namaste” alongside regulars including Police Academy actor Steve Guttenberg—I took a photo and texted it to a friend. In it, you can see a ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains, green moments earlier, now ominously slashed with orange flames.

What I did next always tumbles out like a confession: I put on my shoes and walked down the stairs and directly to a nearby coffee shop, where I ordered a latte. While I was waiting for my coffee, my friend got back to me.

“OMG,” she wrote. “I can smell it and see it from the house.”