Home, whatever its imperfections, is the refuge of the heart. Past addresses may be long forgotten, but who can forget the sight, the smell, or the feel of a former home? Small parts of our lives seep into the walls of the places we call home, and our memories are forever bound there. Losing a home is a wound. But building a new one is an inspiration.

Joe and Sally Fitzgibbon’s home burned, melted, and simply vaporized when the Cerro Grande Fire raged through Los Alamos, New Mexico, in May 2000, destroying entire neighborhoods. “It was just a government-built duplex, but we really liked it,” says Sally of the house they’d owned since 1978. “It was the cheapest house for sale in Los Alamos,” says Joe, who works for the support services contractor at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “I figured we’d buy a bigger, nicer house in a few years.” But they never did.

Life ticked by. Two sons went to school just down the street. Neighbors became friends. Joe and Sally, always early risers, loved weekend walks in the adjacent forest. Joe moved up the career ladder, and they were happy. “We could have lived anywhere in town, but we didn’t want to,” he says. “We remodeled the kitchen and laundry, and we had plans to do more. I’m sure glad we didn’t.”

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