I’m facing my biggest challenge yet. It’s not a client, new program, or design work. It’s rebuilding my home from a grease fire.

The house still stands. It’s four exterior walls sheltering the ashen ruins that was once my home. A window to the kitchen boarded up with black scars and a wooden plank blocking the door are tell-tale signs of the fire from the outside. The inside, once full of bright colors and music, now laden with ash, soot, and eerie silence.

This has been a challenge from every point imaginable. Stress, fear, anger, sadness, guilt. There have been a few happy moments. Glimmers of light through the darkness.