It’s #MusicMonday, and while we are in the middle of a horrendous situation in Los Angeles, I’ll turn to music to infiltrate my head as we understand, cope, and start to move forward …

I grew up in New York State, went to college and grad school in New York State, and have lived most of my adult life on the East Coast. I have an East Coast mindset. So the first time I visited Los Angeles (and California) it was when I was working my first job at Carnation and the HQ was on Wilshire Blvd in LA, and I went there for sales training. I was 22 years old, straight out of college, living in Boston, and had never been on the West Coast before.

I was blown away by LA. I had never imagined anything like it in the country and I couldn’t wrap my head around why I never thought to live out there. It was just so beautiful to me, and the way of life seemed just so beautiful to me. From that moment on, I fell in love with LA and have always wanted to live there. From that moment, LA became a crush, an inspiration, and a muse.

Through the years, I visited LA many many times for work and for pleasure and we now have many friends there too. We eventually bought a home in Palm Springs and while it is not LA per se, it is a bit of the LA culture and I would consider it to be a subset of LA much like the surrounding towns/counties of NY are a subset of NY.

So to see what has been happening with the county of LA this last week is devastating. And while we are not personally touched, we are personally touched by our friends who are in direct contact and it is devastating. It’s impossible for an East Coast person to understand how a fire can wipe out an entire city, but here we are having it happen. It’s devastating, and I like all of us are devastated.

Like so many of us, I’ve been watching videos of the destruction, the firefighting, and the community both evacuating and starting to recover. And I’m in awe of the efforts to come together, to cope, to heal, and to think about how to rebuild. It’s going to be a long journey for sure, but together is the only way to get through it. I myself I’m looking for ways to help individually and collectively as I know so many of us are. And by so doing so, we will help those directly touched get to the other side. Just like they would if it were any of us.

Thinking of you all. Holding you in my heart and in my hands. Looking to help in many ways. We will get through this.

What’s your experience? JIM

A Tribute to Los Angeles #MusicMonday