It has been a heartbreaking and difficult week for our school family.
One of our custodians, Adam Armstrong, has been missing since Monday, July 13. Adam is not simply a member of our custodial staff; he is an important and much loved part of our school community. He is cherished by students and staff alike, and his absence is being deeply felt by everyone who knows him.
The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office has identified Adam as a missing and endangered at-risk adult. Adam is 52 years old and partially nonverbal. He was reported missing from his home in Pueblo West, and there has been no confirmed sign of him at the time of this writing.
Adam is described as a white male, approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 185 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes. Unfortunately, it is unknown what clothing he was wearing when he disappeared.
The sheriff’s department has brought in search dogs and drones, while members of the community and his school family have joined the effort to find him. So many people are searching, sharing information, and praying for his safe return.
We are holding tightly to hope. Adam matters. He is valued, loved, and deeply missed by the children and adults whose lives he has touched.
If you have seen Adam or have any information about his whereabouts, please contact the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office immediately at (719) 583-6250.
Please keep Adam, his family, our school community, the search teams, and everyone working to bring him home in your prayers. Please also share the official missing-person information so that more people will be watching for him.
Adam, we are waiting, hoping, and praying for you to come home safely.
To our nation’s leaders: Take care of the wildfires burning here at home, before pointing any fingers! And do not turn your backs on Canada.
Have you forgotten how often Canadian firefighters and pilots have crossed our border to help us? Just days ago, Canadian helicopter pilot Nicholas Dale lost his life while helping fight a wildfire in Colorado.
Wildfires do not recognize borders, and neither should compassion. Canada has stood beside us during our times of need. Now it is our turn to stand beside Canada.
Stop pointing fingers. Do better. Send Canada help.
The funniest misunderstanding I have ever been part of happened while I was minding my own business in a grocery store.
As I walked down an aisle, I heard a woman behind me calling, “Carrie! Carrie!” Since my name was not Carrie, I naturally ignored her and kept walking.
The next thing I knew, someone rushed up behind me, pinched me hard on the bottom, and declared, “That’s what you get for ignoring your auntie!”
I yelped and spun around. The woman’s eyes widened in horror as she realized that I was definitely not Carrie. She covered her mouth, turned bright red, and immediately began apologizing.
The shocked look on her face was so funny that I burst out laughing, and soon, I was laughing so hard that I cried.
As it turned out, she was visiting from out of town, and I actually knew her family. That made the entire misunderstanding even funnier. Later, after she moved back home, we often laughed about the day she mistook me for her niece and accidentally taught the wrong woman a lesson for “ignoring her auntie.”
We recently visited a fine dining establishment called Dairy Queen, where the humans speak into a mysterious box and then treats magically appear through a window.
Excellent service. Very promising smells. The line was a little long, but Max kept watch, Mitzi monitored the window, and Mom tried to pretend she was in charge.
The pup cups were small, but delicious. We would like to suggest a larger serving size, perhaps served in a cereal bowl or directly from the machine.
Our only complaint: Mom kept saying, “Ones’s enough,” which is not a phrase we recognize in dachshund culture.
Final rating: Five paws up. Would bark in the drive-thru again.
There is finally some hopeful news in the middle of this long and heartbreaking fire. As of Monday morning, July 13, the Aspen Acres Fire has burned 98,609 acres and is now 36% contained, with 1,915 personnel working the fire. Firefighters continue to strengthen containment lines, put out hot spots, and protect the communities still in harm’s way.
The biggest news is that phased re-entry is beginning for many Beulahresidents. Those allowed to return must have a re-entry card or photo ID with proof of residency, and officials continue to remind everyone to check the evacuation map and follow all local instructions before heading back. Even for those returning, this is not a simple homecoming. Many will be going back to smoke, ash, damage, uncertainty, and the painful first look at what the fire has taken.
Some evacuation areas have been downgraded to pre-evacuation, including Colorado City, Signal Mountain, 3R Road, and several areas near Lake Beckwith and Highway 165. Fremont County has also moved all evacuation areas there to pre-evacuation status, but officials warn that conditions can still change quickly because this remains an active fire.
Beulah, Rye, San Isabel, parts of Wetmore, Aspen Acres, South Pine Drive, North Creek, Lazy Acres, Bishop’s Castle, and other affected areas are still listed under evacuation, so residents should not return unless they are officially cleared. Rye residents, in particular, are being asked to wait longer before returning.
The losses are still difficult to comprehend. Beulah Fire Protection and Ambulance District confirmed the loss of 193 primary residences, and officials have reported hundreds of homes and structures lost across Pueblo and Custer counties. Behind every number is someone’s home, their photographs, their porches, their barns, and the quiet pieces of daily life that cannot be replaced.
Still, today brings a small step toward home. Not an end to the fire. Not an end to the grief. But a step. And for a community that has waited, worried, prayed, and watched the smoke rise over the mountains, that step matters.
Today, I am praying for every family returning home, every family who has no home to return to, every firefighter still on the line, and every animal and neighbor affected by this fire.
May the winds stay calm. May the rain come gently. May the firefighters be protected. May those returning home find strength for what waits ahead. And may Beulah rise again, held by the love of all who call her home.
This is the place I still long to return to, my grandmother’s sweet little cottage, her welcoming front porch, and the comfort of her loving hugs.
I wrote this poem many years ago, and even now, it still feels unfinished. Perhaps that is because grief never truly feels complete. The longing remains, and so does the love.
Still, these words come straight from my heart and speak of the woman I miss so very much, every single day.
Some places never really leave us. They stay tucked inside our hearts, waiting for a memory, a scent, a photograph, or a quiet moment to bring them back. It may be a childhood home, a grandparent’s porch, a mountain town, a favorite beach, a country road, or a place where life once felt simple and full of wonder.
This week, write about a place that still calls to you even after many years. What made it special? Who was there with you? What do you remember most—the sounds, the smells, the view, the feeling? Tell the story of the place you long to return to, even if you can only visit it now through memory.
As Katie and I bring this anniversary series to a close, we do so with full hearts and deep gratitude. Over the past few weeks, we reflected on why we started writing, how our blogs have grown and changed, and what this journey has taught us along the way.
For this final post, we wanted to reflect on what we treasured most after ten years of blogging: the readers who have encouraged us, the friendships formed along the way, the comments that have reminded us that our words reached someone’s heart, and the favorite memories that continued to inspire us.
This series has been a celebration of writing, friendship, family, growth, and the stories that shape who we are. Thank you for being a part of this journey.
I feel like I need to start there, before anything else.
(But I should probably also add some context.)
Here we are. This is Part Four of our collaboration, and honestly, it’s the one I’ve been least eager to write. Thinking about what I treasure most – the connections and the friendships, the growth, the creative community around me – that should be joyful and fun. And it is! It absolutely is. It is also overwhelming.
Ten years, y’all. I’ve been here plugging away at A Virginia Writer’s Diary for ten years. That’s a long time, and I feel like there’s just so much I could say. I could fill pages and pages, and I’m struggling trying to condense everything down.
(Seriously. This is currently my sixth attempt to even get started. If it sticks, I won’t delete this note, and everyone can laugh. Writing is hard sometimes, you guys.)
I thought I’d get very specific writing this. I don’t think I can. I think I need to come at this another way. So here it goes…
I remember when I started this blog. I felt hopeful and excited, but aimless. Then I remember when it came alive during 2020. I decided to be brave, and started posting poetry and short stories. The comments I got were all so nice, so encouraging, and they made me want to do better. So I kept posting, and I kept writing. I posted things I knew weren’t my best work, because to get anything out there at all felt better than to contribute nothing. I don’t strive for perfection anymore. I try to do better than I’ve done before, to take lessons away from lackluster dialogue and lines of poetry that don’t quite fit. I am part of this community, and I want to be there, to be present and to give something whenever I can.
It’s hard to mention specific readers and comments and followers, because while I certainly engage more prolifically with some blog friends than with others, I value everyone who stops by and leaves a like or a comment. And I enjoy reading your work, even on days when I don’t have the free time or the free hands to type a response of my own. I’m grateful to everyone out there who reads and writes and creates and inspires me to do the same.
We are a community. We’ve supported each other through the bad moments – 2020 and tough elections and tragedies and uncertainty – and through good moments, too – getting published, finding new jobs, starting at college, seeking help and therapy. I read your posts and feel like I’m not alone, and I want you to know you’re not alone, either. I see you. I read your work. I appreciate your art.
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here and doing what you do. It’s been a journey, from 2016 until now, and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.
Closing: What Comes Next?
Well, first, I can’t truly conclude things without saying that I’ve loved every bit of this collaboration with Annie, and I hope we can do something similar again soon! Please go check out her blog, Tales of a Family. It’s wonderful and heartfelt, and I’m so glad she and I have been able to connect through this project. It just encapsulates everything I enjoy about being here on WordPress.
I love creating. I love cooking and making music. I love decorating my home and making it a space that feels full and happy. I love coloring with Lucy and building towers out of her Picasso Cubes. I love writing. I love connecting with other people. Most of the time, I love people.
It’s going to be an interesting next chapter for all of us creators, I think, as we move deeper into the age of AI. When I think of what comes next, I think of how beautiful and human and imperfect we are here, putting ourselves out there in all of our not-quite-right glory. Sharing stories that go on too long or end too soon, poems that don’t sync to the rhythm we had in our heads, artworks that don’t pop the way we wanted, essays that just can’t truly convey what we’re thinking.
We are perfect in our imperfections. That sense that what we’ve created isn’t done, that it could be better, that’s our spark of the divine. We are not stagnant, and we are never totally complete. We grow and change every day. Our creating does, too.
I don’t know quite what I want to do next here on A Virginia Writer’s Diary. I want to get back to posting more often, and to writing short stories. I miss writing short stories. I’d like to start something longer form – a novel, if you will, in parts that I post once a week or once a month. I think that would be amazing, and a really interesting challenge. I want to follow more of your blogs, and engage more with what you’re creating. I live in Virginia, but I want to make a space on my little corner of the Internet that’s bigger and more than just my world. I invite you to do it with me. We’ll have fun.
I want to grow. I want my writing to grow. I want my community to grow. I want us to create together and go to bed at night knowing that no one and no machine could ever do it quite the same way.
And I want to keep going, keep growing and keep creating, for as long as I can.
Annie’s Part Four: What Matters Most
After ten years of writing, remembering, and sharing stories, I discovered that the greatest treasures are not always the stories themselves, but the people they bring into our lives. When I first started Tales of a Family, I thought I was simply preserving memories. I wrote about my family, the past, and the people who shaped me. I gathered our stories and history before time carried them too far away. At the time, I did not understand how much this journey would grow beyond my family history.
Over the years, my blog has become more than a collection of memories; it has become a place of connection. Certainly, I treasure the readers who have taken the time to visit, read, comment, and share their own memories. Every kind word, thoughtful response, and personal reflection has meant more than I could ever possibly say. Sometimes a comment has reminded me that stories have a way of reaching hearts we may never meet in person.
Those comments have encouraged me to keep writing, even when I doubted myself. They reminded me that ordinary moments can stir something familiar in someone else. A story about a porch, a mountain road, a childhood memory, a dear pet, or a person long gone can help another person remember something precious from their own life. That has always been one of the beautiful things about storytelling. Our memories may have begun as our own, but once we shared them, they often became a bridge to someone else’s heart.
Through the years, I have treasured the friendships that have grown through this journey. Some friendships began through shared stories, kind messages, blog comments, or a mutual love for writing or family history. Others deepened because storytelling gave us a new way to connect.
This blog has helped me look at life differently. I started to view my life with more gratitude. I have begun to notice the small moments, the quiet blessings, and the people who make this life so meaningful. It has helped me understand that a treasured life cannot be built only on grand events, but on everyday love.
To every reader, friend, family member, and fellow storyteller who has been a part of this journey, thank you. Your encouragement has always been one of the greatest treasures of all.
The stories may have started with my family, but over time they have become part of something much larger: a shared place of memory, connection, friendship, and heart.
And that will be something I will always treasure.
The Aspen Acres Fire remains a heartbreaking and active situation for Beulah and the surrounding Southern Colorado communities. As of Thursday morning, the fire was mapped at 96,121 acres with 14% containment, and 1,831 personnel were assigned to the incident. Officials say the latest numbers come from the Aspen Acres Fire 2026 page managed by emergency teams.
There has been some hopeful news. Rain, humidity, and cooler temperatures gave firefighters a much-needed break from the intense fire activity, but officials made it clear that the moisture was not enough to put the fire out. Crews are still working hard, and they are also being cautious because mud and slide risks can make overnight work more dangerous.
Fire officials have also reminded people that contained does not mean out. Even if the fire reaches full containment in the coming weeks, smoke and heat may remain inside the burn area for months, and some remote places could continue to hold heat into winter. This will be a long road for Beulah, Rye, San Isabel, Wetmore, Colorado City, Florence-area communities, and all the families waiting to return home.
The damage is devastating. Officials have reported at least 275 homes lost in Pueblo and Custer counties, and the Beulah Fire Chief reported that 193 primary residences in Beulah alone were burned. Crews are also working to remove dangerous trees before residents can safely return.
There is some movement on evacuations. Rockvale, Coal Creek, and Williamsburg have been downgraded from evacuation orders to pre-evacuation status, but areas including Fremont County Roads 15, 100, and 103, Newlin Ridge Road, Los Pinos subdivision, and Lock Mountain Estates remain under evacuation orders. A mandatory curfew is still in place for impacted areas from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Tonight, my heart is with every family waiting for news, every firefighter on the line, every animal displaced, and every neighbor grieving what has been lost. Beulah has always been a place of peace, beauty, and community. Now, more than ever, may that same strong mountain spirit carry her people through.
May the winds stay calm. May the rain come gently. May the firefighters be protected. May families be comforted. And may Beulah rise again, one act of kindness at a time.
