Not Everything Burns with Carrie Karuhn

A wildfire can erase a neighborhood in hours, but the aftermath can take years and it rarely looks the way people imagine. I sit down with author Carrie Karuhn to talk about the real events behind her novel Not Everything Burns, inspired by the 2007 Malibu fire that destroyed her home and took the animals she loved most.

We chat about why Carrie chose fiction over memoir.  We dig into what the title really means, why she calls the novel a love story, and how accountability became part of her healing when the fire was sparked by reckless decisions.

 Carrie shares what it was like to get the call that “everything is gone,” the painful uncertainty around her pets’ last moments, and the small details that eventually offered solace. We also explore the human-animal bond through premonitions, a single white rose blooming in a torched garden.

Tune in if you care about pet loss, wildfire recovery, grief support, resilience, and the real-world costs of disaster, this conversation will stay with you. 

Subscribe, share with a friend who loves dogs, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

"Not Everything Burns" (She Writes Press, Nov. 10, 2026),

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Meet Carrie And The Novel

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hey you guys, thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Brew Podcast. I'm Charlotte Bain. Today I'm talking with Carrie Karoon, the author of the forthcoming novel, Not Everything Burns. The book is fiction, but it's deeply rooted in Carrie's own life and her experience of losing her home and her beloved animals in a devastating fire. Through fiction, Carrie explores grief, love, loss, and what happens when the lives we've built are suddenly changed in an instant. And of course, at the heart of this is something that is deeply rooted in the Baruch, the extraordinary bond that we share with our animals. So let's just jump into this chat. So hi Carrie, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing your story. Your forthcoming book, Not Everything Burns, it's fiction, but it's based on your experiences, um, or it's clearly informed by your life. Yes.

Why Fiction Beats A Memoir

SPEAKER_01 1:07

When did you realize that you wanted to write fiction versus a memoir? I guess is the question.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

That's a good question. So um I've been actually working on this book for for a long, long time. Yeah. And it did start out as a memoir. And I actually it's a really good story. I uh at one point in my life at one point in my life I worked, I I interned for um a very well-known producer named Fred Roos. Fred Roos, um, he co-produced like the uh the Francis for Coppola movies um and all the Coppola movies, and he was really my mentor, and just I I just so looked up to him so much. And so I'd working on on my book as a as a memoir, and shortly before he passed away, he had called me and asked me what I was working on. And I told him, and he said, How much of it is real? And I said, Well, all of it. And he said, Well, do you want some advice? And I said, Well, of course I'll take your advice. And he said, fictionalize it. And just so that you know, the the drama can really come out and and pop. And so when you get advice from someone like Fred Roos, um, who's so amazingly successful, you heat it. And that's what I did. And so, and I had really been struggling for a long time in telling my story in a in a compelling way. But when I got that advice, it just it clicked. And I just really tore my memoir apart, if you will, and like rewrote it and and was able to bring in a ma amazing stories or just tell it in a different way where I wasn't necessarily bound by the memoir. Um and it just and what I was able to do then and and telling a story about my own animals, including the ones that I lost uh in the fire. Um I I drew from all my animals the all their stories and made them like an like an amalgam to because to be able to share the fun stories of of my life with them, you know, I because I loved them all so much. Um and many of them aren't here with me anymore to be just lost through natural attrition, you know, the old age. Sure. Um, but they brought so much joy to in my life that it was then fun to write about it and to share those stories. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

What um, you know, it's always important to find the joy and the fun and the silliness, even in like the hardest stories and the hardest times, you know, because that's what keeps us going, right?

What Not Everything Burns Means

unknown 4:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So what does not everything burns mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

It's well, first of all, it it's it's about a woman whose life burns down twice. Yeah. First when her marriage falls apart, and then literally when a wildfire destroys her home and takes the animals that she loves so dearly. And as you mentioned, as we talked about, it's it's loosely based on my own experiences. Um, and at its heart, I I'd say that it's it's a love story. Um that I wanted to tell a story about not just my animals that I love so dearly, but also my family who helped me during that time. And so, and but it's a more than that, it's also a story about accountability and resilience. Because um in my particular like in my particular case, the wildfire was started by three men who set a set a w set a campfire, recklessly set a campfire during 90 par hour winds, during a drought, and it just destroyed my neighborhood. So it's about my character and me personally, in I really felt so strongly that they needed to be held accountable for their actions. And so it's it's also about that. It's it's about accountability.

Malibu Fire Context And Accountability

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

This was the 2007 Malibu fire.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

The coral creek. Coral Canyon, yeah. This story actually, you know, speaks to me. I live in on the west side of Los Angeles, and um, all of the animals that I care for live in the Palisades. So we recently last year experienced the Palisades fire. And while we we were really lucky, um no one, none of the animals lost their lives. So we were incredibly fortunate. And only one of my clients fully lost their home. Um, everyone had head damage, and but I was as I was learning your story, I was recounting, you know, it's still so fresh. I mean, we're still in the middle of it, you know, where it's still so fresh. The feelings of I was able of just having to evacuate and get up and go. And the animal I was able to take a lot of my clients' animals during that time. And um, so I can't imagine what you went through. I can't imagine. So do you want to take us back to the fire and what you you were out of town when this tragedy occurred.

The Night The Pets Were Lost

SPEAKER_01 6:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

And I want to make that very clear. Yeah. Um, because you know, you often hear people when they say they're lost, they're they're animals in a fire, and and and people are very quick to say, you left them there. Yeah. And I didn't. Yeah, I didn't. And I'll I'll probably just get emotional, even though it's been so long, I still get emotional about it. Um, it was Thanksgiving weekend, and I was uh my boyfriend and I went to Mexico for uh the Thanksgiving weekend, and I had hired pet sitters to stay at the house and to watch them. And um, I mean, long story short, you know, the fire occurred at at like two, three o'clock in the morning. Um, and when I f eventually learned of what had happened, you know, I was trying to get them on the phone, trying to understand like what what, you know, and and I because I assumed that they had been at the house because that's what I had paid them to do, to be at the house with them, with my animals. So naturally I was like, How did you get out? You know, I'm so happy you got out, you know, that you didn't die in this fire because it was two in the morning. Yeah, two, three in the morning. And so there were all these unanswered questions, you know, when I finally got them, the one woman on the phone, and she was distraught. She was absolutely beside herself. And to the to the point that I mean, I felt sorry for her. I I could not even console her. I'm crying, she's crying. And but and her story didn't make sense, right? You know, because I was trying to ask her, like, how did you get out of the house? Did you hear the fire? You know, what was going on? Yeah. And so one of the things that didn't make sense was she said, and her sister was watching pets on the other side of the canyon. So they were in the same neighborhood, but they only had one car. I see. And so I think that they were both at the other house.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Because she was telling me then, she's like, We we got in the car and we were trying to get to the house, but the firefighters wouldn't let us. And I was like, What do you mean? And and it it was just like days after the fire, I was too emotional to probe. She was distraught. So anyway, that's what that's what happened. I don't believe um she was ever at the house. And the house just burned down with them in it.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

And you lost two dogs and a cat? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah. Do you want to well, what was it like coming back to the house and realizing that your animals were gone? And we don't, we can, you know, but you can share as much as you'd like to share. But yeah, and I probably will I still leave in it all this time.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

I can't, like I'm getting emotional talking about it. It's not my story. So I was like, I couldn't imagine. So I when I got the news, I was in Mexico and I, you know, and I we saw that we saw on the news that this fire was sweeping through Malibu, and I was like, and I saw that it was in my neighborhood. And immediately I was trying to call the the the pet sitters and and what's going on. I kept getting their their voice message and leaving messages, please call me, please call me, please call me. And they no one was calling me. And so finally it was time to leave for the airport, and I got a call from a number that I didn't recognize, and I answered, and it was a woman's voice that I didn't recognize. And she said, you know, is this Carrie? And I said, Yes. And she's like, I'm friends with the pet sitters. Um, she is too distraught to speak with you right now. And she asked me to call you, and um, I'm sorry to tell you that everything's gone. And at first I'm like, okay, that is horrible, the house is gone, but I have insurance it's okay. And I was like, Well, what about the animals? You know, what's where are they? And she said, I'm sorry, everything is gone. And I kept asking her the same question over and over again, hoping to get a different response, but I didn't. And so anyway, I hung up, I was astraught, but um and my boyfriend was with was with me, and he helped he was just fantastic in helping me get through that, and we got onto an air the the plane and made it home. So, you know, I was still processing

Returning Home And Finding Answers

SPEAKER_00 11:20

it, it was just extraordinarily difficult. Um, I called my family, my parents to let them know what happened. And of course, they're like, we're gonna fly out to Los Angeles to help you. And they did that that day. And so um and I don't know if this is too much information, but my my father is a scientist. Um the best I can describe it is more like he's a forensics kind of guy. Yeah. Interesting. Um he and and my boyfriend, um when we were finally able to get back up to the property, up to the burnt-out property, where the firefighters would let us up there. Um my my dad and my and my boyfriend were up there first. And unbeknownst to me, my father found their cremated remains. And and so because he his he's trained to look for. He knows what to look for. And so he didn't tell my me right away um because I was too upset. And so um I was for the longest time just uh beside myself about how they died.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

And um so but in time um where my father found at least Esther, my my one dog, she was found in the the house was completely gone, level. There was not even the foot the chimney was standing, but where he found her ashes was in the middle of the metal uh couch frame. And so she was on the what that eventually told me was that she died where she was sleeping. And so that she died in her sleep. And Maggie was found um just nearby, where she was likely sleeping in her favorite spot on the headrest of the couch. So that told me eventually that they didn't suffer. They didn't suffer, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

From what I've learned for just from my experience, it just moves so quickly. The fire can just move so quickly, and that's the only, I guess, solace you can take from that. And they were in their favorite spots. Yeah.

unknown 13:39

Yeah.

Signs After Loss And Visitation Dreams

SPEAKER_01 13:40

I can't imagine that feeling. What did what did you learn from losing what did you learn about the human-animal bond from losing your dogs? But you losing your animals in a in a way that you weren't able to say, you know, goodbye.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Um I also lost my cat. We never found her because she was too too tiny. Um so I I experienced uh however, you know, folks want to see this, what I'm about to explain. I experienced uh premonitions uh prior to uh to this happening. Um but I didn't know what I was seeing clearly until after it it happened. Um but after and I hope this answers your question, but afterwards I experienced a lot of strange or like uh phenomena, if you will, that um I I had this rose garden, um beautiful rose garden in the back, and it was completely torched. It was just gone like match sticks. And my father um he buried uh my dog's ashes under a charred rose bush when he had found them. And this is and so um and put like a flower pot on top of the of it so that I I would know where to find them later. And so now I don't know, a couple months go by, and I went back up to the property to go sift through the debris, sometimes still searching for like anything that might have survived. And under as I'm walking toward through the garden um through the torched garden, the rose there was a single white rose blooming on the rose bush where Maggie and Esther were buried. And I knew immediately that that was uh telling me that they're okay. So um I 100% believe that. So for me, when you talk about the bond, I think that that is representative of that because um they're just letting me know that they're okay and to stop crying, yeah, even though I'm crying now. And that they're still there with you. Yes. And and then I I had a um shortly after the fire too, I had one of those dreams that it isn't really a dream. You know, you've kind of gone someplace else. I was uh drifting through the a heavy fog in my dream, and it was just like like reality. And I even said out loud, like, where am I? And then suddenly the fog lifted, and I was in in the backyard of my house before the fire, and it was alive and it was beautiful, and the colors, and it just was just gorgeous. And then um Maggie started chart running towards me, followed by Esther, and then my cat Kenai, and and just surrounded me, and it was just so real. Yeah, and I could smell them, I could, you know, running my hands through their fur, and uh, but I knew I couldn't stay. And uh so but they were just also letting me know that they were okay, and it was just a joyous reunion, but I knew I couldn't stay. And just like that, I was pulled back and and woke up in my bed.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

It's very quick.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

I've had uh I've had experience with my dog who passed last year, uh, chance similar to that, where it was more than just a dream. I could smell him and I could touch him, and he was right there and he told me that he had important business to do, so he had to go. But he he just wanted to check on me because I was in that moment having a very hard, hard time. And in my dream, he came to me. And so I 100% believe

Premonitions Before The Wildfire

SPEAKER_01 17:50

in that. Oh, it's also hard. I'm so curious about the premonitions. I read that you had some premonitions and and I'm so curious. Can we talk about those? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Absolutely. Um before the fire, I I I when I would drive up the hill up the hillsides up to my house. My house sat up kind of like on a hill. Yeah. And so um, and on several occasions, I would, as I was drove driving up towards the house, I would just see my house on fire. I would see flames um roaring out of the upstairs windows, and and I was like, what uh what is that? And then it was gone. Um in my premonitions, the uh the what I saw was happening during the day, um, where in in what really happened was at at night. Um so there was that one difference, but it was just I would just see that this vision of my house on fire. Yeah, and then it would it then it would go. And so of course I didn't know what I was seeing. You know, I was just like, that's weird. Right. Um but um the the day that um the morning that I left for the airport, um I was dragging my suitcase out to the car, and it was n just before dawn, it was still very dark, and the winds were blowing like 90 miles per hour, and um and I looked uh up to the second floor where Maggie the the living room was on the second floor, and so I looked up and I I could see her and she was standing on the back of the couch um and she was looking down at me and the backdrop was all golden, it was beautiful, and it was just her silhouette in this window. And I I looked up at her and I had this overwhelming feeling that I would never see her again. Um and but I didn't think that something would happen to her. I thought that something was gonna happen to me. Like maybe my plane would crash or I would drown in the ocean in Mexico or something. But I was just like, I don't I mean we all have my feelings. I know, but I'm like, why do I it was so overwhelming that I almost called my boyfriend and told him I couldn't go. Right. And uh, but that by itself would sound crazy, but you can't go because you have a weird feeling. And so I just brushed it off and just said goodbye, waved up to her and got my car and left. So, in fact, and that was the last time I did see her.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

I can't imagine that kind of grief. I mean, even with losing my pop and sitting with people and sitting with clients as their dogs pass, all of the the moments of I should have done this, I should have done that, you know, at what point are you able to just like release that? Like there was nothing I could have

Releasing Guilt Through Kind Words

SPEAKER_01 20:50

done. There was this is how it's this was how it was supposed to be, you know, as tragic as it is, you know, this is how this is how our lives were supposed to unfold.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

At one point we're able to release it. I don't it took me a long time. And and I don't I can't even identify if there was a specific time. Um I think um even I mean I was beside myself and and I was going through a divorce at the time, and my then estranged husband, you know, came to the site, you know, to see the house as well, you know, and I told him what happened. And and he even just set my heart at ease by saying that you did what you felt was best for them by having someone come to the house, you know, to watch them. You didn't know that that this was gonna happen. No one could have predicted that this was going to happen. And so, um, so those were words of kindness from him that uh that really helped.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

And my boyfriend too. I mean, clearly clearly, without a question, Kevin helps with with that as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Yeah. Do you think is that part of why you why you were inspired to write this story? Do you think that the yes healing for you to write it?

SPEAKER_00 22:17

It was healing and it was also painful because you have to relive, relive this stuff. Sure. Um, you know, and the fire was almost 20 years ago. And so even as I'm writing, I'm trying to remember like what was happening and really digging in deep of what I was feeling at that time. And that's another reason why I chose to fictionalize this rather than do the memoir, because these events occurred like almost 20 years ago, and I didn't trust my memory to make sure I had everything 100. Yeah. So um so yeah, it was healing. I I think so definitely. And but uh uh hard at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Sure. Sure. Since

Remembering Maggie Esther And Kenai

SPEAKER_01 23:00

we're talking about your animals, if you wouldn't mind sharing, is there something that you want to share about them? I think their personalities or a special moment that you that you that stays with you? A happy moment.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

They they all do. I mean, like, you know, just everything. Maggie, my dog Maggie, she was like um, she looks like Toto from The Wizard of Oz. And she was just this cherry turinger, but a personality larger than life. Uh-huh and and challenged me. Um but uh I don't know, this is just it still makes me laugh. I should and it because she ate everything and got in so much trouble all the time. So I remember one time, and this is she, I I came, my husband had left for work, and I came down the stairs, and I saw this, I didn't have my glasses on, and I saw this strange object on the floor, and I'm like, what is that? And I picked it up, and it was like this weird plastic thing. And and and it had the the letters V-A-S on it, and I'm like, V-A-S. What did I have that started with the letters V-A-S? Uh-oh. And I'm like, oh no. It was my jar of Vaseline is just lip balm. Oh no. She had stolen it off my nightstand and eaten the whole the whole eaten the entire contents and half the jar, half of the plastic jar. So and then I'm like, where is she? And then she's standing by the front door, like, I got pulled out.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Oh my gosh. And she was was she fine after that? I mean, you'd be surprised at some of the things the dogs that dogs and cats can eat and be fine with, but it seems like that's that's exceptional.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

She was completely fine. You didn't need to take her to the bed or anything. No, the things she ate just went right through her. It's just, but I was like that. Oh, she ate the contents of the Vaseline and the jar. So I just I don't know. It still makes me laugh about her. But she was she uh she was something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah. I know. Vaseline's a popular one. I'm not sure what the appeal is there, but they love that. So fire was one event, but obviously the aftermath

Insurance Fights Scams Looters And Court

SPEAKER_01 25:20

of the fire has you know lasted for years in the book. And you talk about even it and even though it's fiction, but you you're pulling from your life, so you're talking about having to deal with um the aftermath of dealing with the fire as well as dealing with the grief of losing your pets. What did that feel like? Because I I I mean, and I can relate to that with going through with without the losing the pets part, but just how complicated it gets after the fire. So you're carrying this, you're carrying the heartbreak and having to deal with the technical. It's absolutely outrageous.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Um and you know what a lot of people who've never gone through this um don't realize is is the aftermath, what happens in the aftermath. Yeah. It's not like, oh, your house burns down and insurance cuts you a check. Um that doesn't happen at all. I mean, the insurance um insurance company at you know was refusing to pay. Yeah um and the mortgage company that was a whole other drama, you know, you have to pay you have to continue paying mortgage on a house that doesn't exist. But but in this particular case, the mortgage company, um they wanted also what they they didn't know the insurance company wasn't was saying they weren't gonna pay. So the mortgage company was like, we want the insurance and we want the land, like to pay they wanted to seize the land. Like they had a the mortgage company had appraised the land for higher than what the land was worth.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah. Okay, so they're like, we want the land. Yeah. And but we also want the insurance. So in other words, they were trying to profit off of our loss. Yep. So the insurance company wasn't paying, the mortgage company was trying to profit, and then you've got just this community of people that they think there's going to be a huge insurance payout, so that they come, you know, trying to like like insurance adjusters let me represent you so you can get like the highest amount, you know, from the insurance company. And and a lot of those people, in my experience, are really slippery. And then you have just the scam artists, you know, um people again trying to profit off of your loss. I I had a guy um who you know, the county makes you clear the property of all the debris. Right. And so I was up there sifting through the ash, seeing if I could find anything. And he shows up, he just sees me and he stops, and he's like, I, you know, I'll help you clear your land. Um, can I give you an estimate? And I'm like, sure, why not? And so he gives me an estimate for $50,000 to clear my my property. And and with all this vague language. And and I knew that wasn't right, like $50,000. I just said plus I'd already been getting estimates from people about the clearing the property, which were was more in the neighborhood of $5,000. Yeah. And so so you've got these scam artists who are coming because they think there's gonna be a huge insurance payout and let's profit off of you. Um for me, the the worst were the looters, though. Um because you know they they arrive in the middle of the night and there's nothing that they won't take. In fact, they when I totally lost it was uh they had stolen my dog's headstones. Um and um and that's when when I absolutely lost it. You know, insurance companies not paying, mortgage companies, you know, doing nefarious things, scam artists, um, and eluders, and I jumped in my car and I I sped away because I was just so upset and I was crying so hard. I um I couldn't see the road, so I pulled over. And then I had another like experience, metaphysical experience, where I I found myself in my car, but like looking at something, like like the veil between this world and the next had lifted. And I sat found myself staring into something, and I it was like this giant void with this corona around it, and and I felt like I was standing on this great precipice that if I stepped off, I would be lost forever. And and so but I so I knew there was danger there, and and so I I stepped back and then the veil closed. And in that moment, I I realized that, well, I have a choice. You know, everyone can try to take advantage of me. Um, I can crawl into a hole and just let people take advantage of me, or I could come out swinging. And and so I I chose that no, I'm gonna fight back. And so that's what I did. I took everyone to court.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

You did. I took everyone to court. They are now in the Palisades. They are just as of last night, they are putting up barricades again because people are coming in the middle of the night and stealing like the rebuilding stuff. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

So it's the the really these detritus of of our society. They're the lowest people.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

I'm so fascinated because I'm very interested in metaphysical things and in premonitions and invisions and all of that stuff. Do you have any more for me?

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Anything

Messages From Strangers And Family Spirits

SPEAKER_00 30:41

I I have a couple. It was um the rose bush was a was a big one. Yeah. Um and in the days after maybe like a week or two after the fire, um, my parents had now gone home and and I had been up at the property against sifting, because I was searching for anything still that might have survived, specifically some uh uh wedding like a family heirloom a wedding band. Sure. Um and I drove so I was done for the the day or the evening, and I came down the canyon, and there's a Union 76 gas station at the base of the canyon, and I was filling my tank, and there was a homeless person digging through the trash. Um, and and I didn't see him right away. Um and then I and so he kind of startled me when I when I first saw him. Yeah, and he proceeded to tell me, he said, uh like he didn't know my situation, he didn't know my plight, and he just said, I know it looks bad right now, but this is the lowest that it's going to be. And and everything from here is just going can only get better. And those weren't his exact words, but it that was the message. And it just felt like like the universe had sent this man to come give me a message. And um yeah. That's so that was another one fire related. I during my divorce, um my husband.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

That one that one sounds like it was out of a movie. Yeah, that would that's incredible. Yeah, it felt like it. It wasn't a good scene in a movie.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

It was it was dark and the waves are crashing up on the shore, and then this man emerges out of nowhere, and he delivers his message. I'm like, what? Okay. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Oh wow. Anyway, you were gonna tell me about um you're moving into something else, telling me about Oh yeah, no, there was another one.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Uh it was it was also quite significant. It was before the fire. Um, and my my husband had had left the marriage uh abruptly, and I I I was in a state of I was in a in a tough place. It was a dark place. I was crying, I was sobbing, and I was um in the shower crying, and um inconsolable. And suddenly the bathroom lights started flickering, like like just rapid fire flickering, and it was enough to pull me out of my state, and like like what's going on? And I just had this overwhelming feeling that it was my late grandmother and telling me like snap outlet, like the kid.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Get together, lady, put it together. It's not that bad. It's just a guy. In my day, we had to deal with all of this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

I mean, the the message, I just the uh the overwhelming message I felt was snap out of it.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

It's it's gonna be fine. He's again, I'm so this again, he's just a man, just yeah.

unknown 34:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Move along. Yeah, move move on. And so

Blending Comedy With Tragedy On Purpose

SPEAKER_00 34:10

it did. It it absolutely sat me back. But it was that was another metaphysical moment that I felt um the spirit of my grandmother was there to help pull me out from my funk. What I want to tell people to with my book is is I am my book blends comedy with tragedy. So this I don't look at this book as a treatise on loss and grief. You know, I I tell I talk about my some eccentric family members, like my grandma Belle, you know, and what that was what she was like. And so this book, yes, there are moments of sadness, and um, but I I hope too, along the journey people are laughing, you know, and um, because you know if you have pets too, and if you have a good sense of humor, you know, you can't help but laugh with your animals because they're hilarious. But um, so I don't I don't so I I think some readers have found that jarring. Um that the humor part that yeah, the humor part that it's like what is this book trying to be? Funny or tragic? And I'm like both. Yeah and and and two, because I don't I just felt there's parts of it that are so sad you need comic relief.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Those two things can exist at the same time. They almost have to to save us from like going way too far into the dark. Exactly, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

So, you know, if if you're a reader that can appreciate the blending of humor and loss, um then this book should resonate with you.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

Hopefully. Yeah. Um and I think I think I've already said this. Uh my book is also uh and I did cover this. It's it's a love story about my animals um and my family, because I c and and with my boyfriend too. Yeah, we're still together after all this time to 20 years later. Wow. Yeah, 20 years later. So um, but it's a love story because I I could not have gotten through that time without my family and Kevin. And I mean, I would have gotten through it, but it was the experience would have been a lot more difficult. Right. And without their support. And so um so I wanted to tell that story that uh about, you know, tell my love I had for my animals, but also love for my family and how fortunate I am that I had their support.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Do you I this is personal, but do you still do you still talk to your animals like those t particular animals? I know you've you've had more sense, I'm assuming. But each one is an individual gift. Um and do you see some of similarities? If we're talking woo-woo thing, sometimes I wonder.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Yeah, sometimes I still see you like the shadow in the corn like the shadow move over there, you know, or or or the bed move. Um and I'm honestly I'm not sure who it is because I've had a lot of animals even since then. And you know, um and you ride horses, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Also?

SPEAKER_00 37:18

I do ride horses. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Horses are very spiritual. Yeah. Yep. And so um I don't know, yeah, 20 years has passed, maybe they have moved on, you know, to their next journey. Um so I'm not quite sure sometimes who's visiting me. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

So I like to think that they make they make sure you're okay. That they've gotten they've gotten you to a good place, and then they then they go off doing busy work, whatever else they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

That's right. Saving the world.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Saving the world. Yeah, in my dream of chance, like he was he was like in the he was like in the Middle East or something. I was very interested. You had like important work to do with children in like the Middle East. I don't know. I was like, well, that sounds very important. So thank you for visiting me and making me feel okay, but you've got a lot more important things to handle. Carry on. Carry on. Um well, thank you. Your your forthcoming book comes out on November 10th, yes. Um, and yeah, we will we look forward to it. And I'm so happy that you shared your story with us. I know that it was hard. Thank you. Yeah. So sorry if I was a blubbering. You were not a blubbering. I couldn't imagine. I can't imagine what you were going through. And we never grief is not linear, you know. So we never know when it's gonna come up and we think we're okay. And it comes up when we least expect it, when we're

Book Release And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 38:50

on a jog or, you know, doing something completely different. All right, Carrie. Well, it was such a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks, Charlotte. I appreciate it.

unknown 39:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

If you enjoyed this conversation, I'd love it if you'd followed the show, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who loves dogs. You can find links to everything we talked about today in the show notes. And I'd love to connect with you on Instagram at Baroo Pup. If you have a story you'd like to share, you can email me at Charlotte at theparoo.com. Thanks for listening to the Baroo and let's chat soon.