This Champaign city girl turned to the Sadorus countryside to raise her own son near the same farm that raised her up just a few decades ago. The flatlands and drying corn are a far cry from the lush tropics of where she spent her twenties—Maui, HI. 
 
 Listen as Ashley describes the preserved history that surrounded the once coveted town of Lahaina. Ashley and her now husband traveled to this area with nothing but wanderlust and a backpack. Ashley worked in a small schoolhouse teaching native islanders and soaking up smells and sunsets while making lifelong friends and memories. These friends are on the ground and communicating the hell firsthand. It’s not just a vacation spot or a blip in their life’s timeline. A piece of her, of them, is gone, forever lost, not unlike the hundreds of missing—many children—that are yet to be found amongst the indiscernible ash and ruin. Polluted water, looting and land grabbing are just a short list of the concerns the residents face. Inoperable fire hydrants, few and unsafe exits of evacuation and inaudible warnings only magnified the wildfire catastrophe. A U.S. gem was lost. Ashley encourages everyone to keep visiting Maui—keep talking about what happened. Ultimately, she doesn’t want this event to be easily forgotten. Her final hope is that Lahaina is able to rebuild to its former glory rather than a commercialized version of what other islands have become.

Emily Harrington, here! Mom, wife, retired communications liaison and host of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast. Each week I bring you a pod where townies and transplants share their tales of tears and triumphs, losses and wins. In an effort to provide a way for those that don’t want a public podcast, but still have a story to tell friends and family, I’ve created, In Retrospect: A HyperLocal(s) Project, a private podcast. Visit hyperlocalscu.com/in-retrospect

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