If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these photos are worth much more than my words ever could be. This is a brief glimpse into my life, beginning on May 3, 2016, when I fled Fort McMurray with only the things that fit into my car, like 3 cats, and the things that fit into my heart, which threatened at times to burst from carrying all of it.

The moment when everything changed…

The first hotel room…

The kind gifts from the hotel in Calgary, designed to sooth a weary soul (and some cats, too)…

The realization that my community was a front page story – as a natural disaster…

The moment when I realized I thoughtfully evacuated with my lunch bag…

When they began realizing hotel beds are very comfy…

When he refused to sleep anywhere but my suitcase…

When she refused to sleep anywhere but my bed…

When he just didn’t care where he slept…

When the smoke began to clear and I got the first glimpses of my neighbourhood…

When they continued to dazzle me with their cuteness, despite the close confines of one hotel room and three cats…

When I realized they had all taken over the bed entirely…

When I knew things were going to be okay…

When I got home and knew my house was okay, but my beloved ten-year old bonsai tree was not…

When they got home and knew it was going to be okay…

When kind strangers mowed my jungle of a lawn…

When one month after the fire in early June I found a paper box holding a paper dated May 3, 2016, with the prophetic headline “Up in smoke”…

And this little blue-haired dazzler? She is what kept me going before May 3, 2016, during that fateful day and every day since, because what I learned in the end is that what matters is family, friends, furry companions and love.