Margaret Sherman played tennis four times a week at the Palisades Tennis Center, with the same three ladies. She would get her smoothie right afterwards - the same one every time, because once she found something she loved, she stuck with it. She would ask them to add a pinch of ginseng because she read an article about that being good for post match recovery.
That smoothie stand is gone. Her favorite court is gone. Her least favorite court, the one with the crack right along the service line, is gone too. She hasn’t seen her friends in weeks - not because they died, or moved away, but because their meeting place is gone. Their excuse to see each other. Any semblance of anything being easy, or pleasant - gone.
Much ink has been spilled over the Southern California wildfires of January 2025. Rugged journalism and personal pleas alike. The fires even have their own Wikipedia page - which, as far as milestones go, sucks.