 My name is Marilu Medina and I came here because my parents migrated here. My dad migrated here from Mexico and my mom migrated here from California. And so they both came for the same reason was to work in the orchards. For my dad it was to work in the orchards and for my mom for her parents to work in the orchards. And so I grew up working or being around the orchards. My childhood was about a lot about the orchards. I would go to the packing house and watch the packers pack pears and later pack peaches. And I would go into the orchards and watch my dad watch the crew members pick pears and with their buckets and put them in their big boxes. And my mom as a kid she actually grew up doing that as well helping her parents pick pears in the orchards. And so that's how I came here and the majority of my life I grew up in talent and so did my parents. And it wasn't until I got older is when I I moved for a little bit but then when we had kids is when I we came back to reside into talent. Even my husband worked in the orchards for I'd say seven years when my kids were really little our kids were really little. And so yeah a lot of our a lot of my memories childhood memories is through the orchards and in particularly Ron Myers orchards. That's where my dad worked. Yeah as a child I think a lot of my fondest memories were riding the motorcycle in the orchards. Me and my sister we would ride in the motorcycles just for fun and and that we would go down to the creek and we would see the running water we go down and look at the ditch and see the canal with the running water. And everything was green in the summer there wasn't any smoke there was never any news about wildfires. I just seem like a very vivid colorful childhood memories of a beautiful mountains and green trees and nothing major to worry about nothing on the news that would bring fear. It was just growing up and being a kid just being a kid is how I felt as a child. It wasn't until I think after middle school when I was just starting high school and September 11th happened is when I just when I started seeing more things on the news and more fear. Internationally and even locally when things really started to change and they seem to have continued to change. Now that I have my kids I compare my childhood to when to their childhood and I see that they have had more struggles. Or I guess challenge different challenges may be more difficult than than what I had as a kid. And I it's a little bit sad seeing that because you would think after one generation after another generation of working hard to come from Mexico and pick pairs and to have an established home to then seeing your children. And it's struggling in that aspect because of the way society has changed and how things are now we have more we have droughts we have fires to worry about. It's like kind of like you're going the opposite like you're going back instead of moving forward. And that for me I feel a little bit it's saddened me to see that that my kids couldn't have couldn't just be a kid they have to they can be their kid. But with those those background fears of of fires and water droughts COVID and and even feeling safe at school is it's definitely has changed. There's no more water in the canals the orchards are gone. We literally lived surrounded by orchards our house was in the middle of orchards and if I when I go back to where we used to live. There is zero orchards no no tree of any sort. So has definitely changed from when I was a kid till now. But I'm what but I what what I'm happy about is I was a my mom was able to go to high school to Phoenix High School here as well as myself. And now my kids are at Phoenix High School. So I think that's kind of a fun tradition that we have here and and seeing the changes of the high school and the teachers. I feel like there's been a positive changes to that with the new building and just I think it's it's it's more safer. I feel very proud to be able to have my kids go to the same high school that I went to and my mom did as well. And and thankful that my families here in the Rogue Valley and have that support amongst what we're going through right now. And so that's just kind of a little aspect of my childhood and what I how I look at it in my perspective. And then looking as now looking back when we went to the during the Almeida fire. A little background of our home we lived at Talent Mobile States and we had lived there for 13 years. In fact my second son was born at Talent Mobile States. I didn't make it to the hospital and he was born outside in the driveway. It actually came on the Miltribune news. It was front page and it was a picture of me and my and holding my son and and it said I think it said something about like a local mom gave birth to their to a baby boy. After eating a pepperoni pizza because literally I had just got done eating a slice of pizza. When I said we need to go to the hospital we need to go immediately and I didn't make it. So I actually I think I have a copy of the articles I'll have to find it. My sister was able to save one after the fires and she gave it to me. So that's a fun memory that we have there on Arnold's Road. And it was just a fun neighborhood. It was a community within a community. You see kids riding their bikes. I would be cutting up watermelon and taking it outside for the neighborhood kids with for my kids and take a bike break and eat some watermelon. The neighbors were mellow. Sometimes if we had an event you knock on the door of the neighbors and had them a plate of food and share share a plate of food that we had made for the event. So it was really a lovely place to live. Like I said it was a community within a community. Beautiful people beautiful families. There wasn't any reason for us to really want to move other other than just space. It could be a little bit tight. But we made it work. We made it work. My husband he remodeled the place. He you know little by little we replaced windows. We replaced doors floors put in a new deck built a new shed carport. I mean we did so much improvement to our place to make it our home. It really wasn't just like this is where we live but we made it to be have memories like beautiful memories of of building it together and making it our place. And and so to see that go is is sad and and it's where we started our business where we we started our get get our first lawn mower and get our first weed backer and and started slowly building our business to be self employed and and try to make something more than just work hourly in the orchards we wanted we wanted to change and we knew we had that potential. And so there was just a lot of memories there at Arnold's Road and when they'll meet up fires came and just like a lot of people from other people. I've been told there wasn't just any time to take anything of value or anything that was of memory. You just had to leave. You just had to go and and so when we did that we had no time to take. We just we took a dresser drawer that had some important things in it and Lily just took the drawer and put it in the truck and that was pretty much it. I did tell my kids to take the hamper that was full well not full but it had some dirty clothes in it and we managed to take the hamper. My think my think it was there's clothes in there and I know we use those clothes because they're dirty. So let's just take that. And unfortunately I had just done laundry maybe two days prior so there wasn't much in there. But but yep we took the hamper. I still have that hamper and I was managed to take it into the car. But other than that I had some other things I wanted to take but it was just it was going so fast and I needed help to carry it out and everybody was in the car except for me. They were just waiting for me to leave and I said OK OK I just left it on the bed and we just we just left. We we left up Arnold's Road where my dad lives and we were just there kind of waiting on what our next move was going to be. And my dad was still at work. He was working at Ron Myers at that time and we told him the situation and we went to his backyard and he actually had one tree that was swaying just back and forth. It could literally fall at any moments and we told him you need to come home because this tree is about to fall and there's a fire happening. But we didn't get to see my dad in time because we felt like it was bad enough where we just had to leave again. And and so we left and and in talent it was just as bad as I mean in Phoenix it was when we got to Phoenix it was just as bad as in talent. And so I told my mom to to leave her home in Phoenix and to go to her brother's house that will be staying at another house in talent that was away from the fires. And so that's that's what we did. We we stayed overnight in talent and during that stay my husband had left back to our house to see how things were. And that's when I found out that we had lost our home. He took our oldest son and and so they have video tape of it and you can hear my son whistling in the background. I think I kind of like as a distraction of what was going on and and they were able to go inside to where we live not where we lived but in the park. And then they and they saw that there was nothing sayable everything was gone and my son did cry. He he he they felt he felt he felt the reality of what was happening. And it's it I think for me for for my son to see that instead of seeing like like running into the orchards with the motorcycle and and and just playing. Instead he was seeing my first day back to school having to be at home because of COVID to see in my house on fire was pretty intense for him was pretty intense. But he's a strong kid and I know he he is persevering. And he always says it well it is what it is we move forward and that's what we're exactly doing. Looking back now I'm just grateful like when we where we were at my husband had knocked on people's doors to let them know there's a fire you need to leave. We had a lot of a few senior citizens who lived where we lived and so many of them that weren't even aware there was something going on. And we got to actually watch them leave. I remember watching them leave and so I'm grateful that we were able to knock on my husband was able to knock on doors and and let people know there's a fire and you probably should leave. But other than that there wasn't much that we could do and just from there we just played it day by day one day at a time. In fact that same day that the fires was the first day back to school for my kids. Luckily it was in in service school it was because of COVID they were doing online schooling. So we didn't have to evacuate them from the middle school or elementary school because they were already at home and because I was home with my twins. They were six months at the time and thankfully my husband had only worked half day in Ashland so we were all able to evacuate together. But yes it was a pretty intense day for for us for many people it was a lot of us were in shock weren't sure what was going to happen. We're really thankful that we're just together and safe. There wasn't anything at the time that I could think in my head like oh I wish I could have gotten this or that because you're literally just thinking how grateful you are to be together as a family. Materials come and go but families what's important and so that's what kept us strong I think is just that we were together. And just the amount of support that we were getting phone calls and texts of support I think that helped us to to know that we weren't alone that we're all in this together. But that was yes that was our experience of the first day of the Alameda fire and just one of the many experiences that we have gone through since then. I guess sentimental value of things that we have lost that will pop up in my head from time to time because it's it's just an importance for me because prior prior to the Alameda fire prior to our twins. We had lost our son and I only had a few things of his that were in the house and like his baby footprints and like his baby blanket that I was always put on the bed after I'm then making the bed and we lost all of that. So you can't really replace those items because they were there while he was here and now that he's not here you can't replace them. So that's one thing that that saddens me but I'm thankful that we're able to go to see him at his mark his place of rest and know that he's okay. And I think that's what I did my one of the first weeks after the fires I went to make sure he was okay because I felt so bad as a mom. I felt like I felt him that I know when I went I know in my heart that everything was okay. So that's kind of one of the hardest things for me was losing those little items that I had left that I can't replace. And having to move on without having anything in my house to remember him of other than going to his place of rest. But I think that just kind of gives me a perspective to know that everything here is temporary and and you know and that's okay because this this is temporary and what is here what's after it will be forever. So I'm okay and we'll be okay and and so that's kind of like the thing with Almeida that kind of affected me the most was was losing that. But I'm I'm thankful that we have our family and and our girls that they keep us busy our twins and our teenage boys. One thing I remember about after Almeida fire there was a lot of food services a lot of opportunities if you're hungry there's going to be food somewhere. So they had announcements and even in the action schools there was food services to Phoenix to talent up to Meffer because so many people were displaced so many people were everywhere now spread out in the Rogue Valley. They made sure to provide food for everybody and so that was great that was something that we didn't have to worry about one less thing to worry about and focus on finding a permanent solution or semi a semi solution in our situation. We had a lot of moves after the Almeida fire and one of them was staying at the hotel in Ashland and we had to stay in two different rooms because we're a big family. And unfortunately they have a room that was jointed together so my kids were like maybe two rooms down and they had one day decided to spend night at grandma's house. It was during Christmas time and the following day when we're all going to go back and we would just go there to sleep basically during the day we would be gone. They went into their room and their room had been ransacked. Someone had got in there and it was very strange because most of us all of our stuff was in our room so it was just that room was just for them to sleep in. They didn't have anything in there but just to see how they left the room they pulled the phone out, disconnected it, they moved the dresser, they turned over the bed, the windows open, all the lights were on, the AC was on full blast. I don't know what their attention was. It really left me uncomfortable but then we let the hotel know and we were able to get a room all together. We had an opportunity to stay in the FEMA trailers and we had a neighbor who I think was not very well and he would be outside with his machete and hitting the trailer and going around with it. It just was not a comfortable place to be so we decided to stay with my mom because there wasn't much that they could do for my understanding. It's kind of been an odd roller coaster but I think having a place like my mom's that baseline has made us feel safe. We know the neighbors there and they know us so it's nice to be there. Walking distance from the school too. They had spots in Ashland, I think a method, doing events during the weekend where people would bring shoes and clothing and things that just people need to live in and we were able to get some items, some clothes right away. I found a pair of tennies that were the exact same tennies that I had lost in the fires so that was really nice. I was like those are my shoes, those are my tennies so I was able to pick those up. I'm so grateful we would be walking, getting some help and rounded people like here. They just wanted to help, they just wanted to give and they would just give and it was just so beautiful to see how people would just come together and just be like here I don't know you but I know what happened. This is what I have to help and it was just so grateful to see that. We had a family friend who came and he would drop off hot food for us every week and there was more than plenty of food for not only for us but for where we were staying at and so we were really grateful for that. I'm grateful for just the support, the support that we couldn't even get, think about. It was just coming without even thinking and that's what helped us I think to move forward quickly. It was challenging to homeschool with COVID and the girls but I know the school made it, they tried to do the best to make it really easy and relax because it was new for everybody, it was new for the students, it was new for the teachers. They didn't want to overwhelm students with homework or learning something new that they weren't sure of so that helped a lot to have teachers that were understanding and have classrooms where it was more kind of like review work or light work rather than learning something new and being challenged by it. There's just too much stress I think for students and teachers to do that. I think only really one of the challenges would be like if my sons had to talk or had to unmute I didn't make sure the girls were not fussing or kind of away from the computer so that way they could concentrate good in their classrooms. It was definitely different. I remember seeing my son's teacher on the computer for the first time and I remember her looking at all her students from her computer and she was almost at tears just like wow this is the first day of school online and this is it, this is what we're going to do. And I said I saw his teacher and she was tearing up and I said wow everybody's in this together, everybody's in this together and yeah that's how it kind of went. Luckily though because well I mean because the school started the first day of the meal at a fire they went ahead and paused school and they started it weeks out so people could get adjusted and or do what they needed to do while this happened. So luckily we didn't have that stress for a few weeks of them having to find, be back in school and that worked out for everybody. The school was very remarkable, very understanding, very helpful. A lot of students lost their computers that day and I think my kids took their school computers so they didn't lose them. But they were very understandable and they were able to replace those computers that students had lost from the fires. So it worked out for the situation that many were in. They also were bringing in hotspots trying to bring in hotspots to student areas so students can continue learning online and so they would make it so everyone could be a part of school and not stressed about it. I think for the future for change it's really hard to kind of think of the future when there's a lot of things going on right now like COVID still continues, the droughts continue, the economy is not great right now. So it's really hard to focus on what the future would be but I think for me it's just kind of feeling normal, just that normalization of I know my kids are now into cars and work and just kind of saving up. So I want them to feel like just feel like a normal teenager working on their cars, being able to go out and do things and not have to worry so much about oh do I really want to go to Mefer because the gas prices are pretty expensive, do I really want to drive out there. I just want them to feel like they can do things without having to have that worryiness in the back of their head. So for that to change it's hard to say how can that change because I think it's a really big, a big, like it's not just a little Sunna-Orientown problem, it's a whole nation problem so it's really hard to say how to change it. Hopefully maybe I guess maybe things just have to take their course and eventually we kind of can go back into a little bit more of like normalization. Yeah I hear my family's stories and how strong they have been and their situation so I think it runs in the family being strong and so I think that's why we have been able to be okay with what's going on. Well not that okay but we're able to go persevere. Yeah it comes from generations in the past of events that make us who we are today. Yeah but yeah we're definitely thankful that we have family here.