Terrible loss of former WPO sister, Nora Plesent

Our (former) WPO sister, Nora Plesent, lost her home and all their belongings in the Palisades fire last week. I wanted to share her Facebook post with you, as I'm sure some of you know her! This is from her Facebook page. She is a remarkable person, and a dear friend.

A home is not a thing. It is a loving nest, a place of comfort and belonging, it is where we celebrate and where we ache, where we cook and create and laugh and cry. 15 years ago, I moved to the Palisades after the first traumatic period in my life. I was going through a divorce, my brother had died and my parents had lost all their money in the Madoff scandal. I fell in love with the Palisades and became part of the warm, vibrant community. And 665 Swarthmore became my rock, my foundation, my base. I loved every inch of that home and I am lost without it. Yes, we are lucky to be alive but I am bereft, angry, depressed, sickened and heartbroken. My home was where I welcomed clients to have Days of Calm, to gather for The Collective, to participate in book clubs. It's where I wrote my memoir and was starting a novel. My home is where my children grew up and had their friends sleep over. It's where my grandkids learned to swim and where I learned to relax and breathe for the first time in my life. When someone dies, there's a memorial or funeral. Jews sit shiva. I understand why and need to do some sort of ritual for my home. Everyone keeps asking me what the can do to help. I don't really know. But I know that I need to memorialize what has been our sanctuary for the past fifteen years. I would love to hear your words about what being at my home meant to you, how it impacted you. My beloved friend Bonnie Resnick Baker is going to take the responses and put them in a book/binder for me to keep so that I can be reminded that my time there had value, that the home I lovingly put together meant something special. Please email me your thoughts to noraplesent@mac.com. Thank you. This would mean the world to me.

I won't post pictures of the devastation but know that all the remains is the experience of love.