Tommie Carter spent her 100th birthday earlier this week focusing on the future instead of recent troubles.
She lost her home and nearly all of her family treasures in the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, according to KRQE.
"I don't know how much more I'll have to go, but I pray to God," Carter said. "I thank God for giving me all of this time."
Carter celebrated her special birthday at the Crowne Plaza in Albuquerque, KRQE reported. The hotel served as her home since May, when the fire forced her to leave her house and property in Mora.
"It burned everything," she said. "I had written a story about my life, and it was getting ready to be published, and it got burned."
The manuscript might be gone, but Carter is thankful she is alive to celebrate with her family, according to KRQE. They helped her survive the historic fire that burned her home of 32 years.
"My grandmother [was going to be] 100 [and] on oxygen, so to move her was very trying because she's not supposed to move without a doctor's order," Benito Sanchez, Carter's grandson, said. "But, we had to get away from the fire because it was coming close, and we found out a week later that our house was gone."
Carter set a wonderful example for family and friends by keeping a positive attitude after losing her home to New Mexico's largest wildfire in history, KRQE reported. The fire was fully contained in August after burning for five months.
"We went to break the news to her, and she was rocking in her chair, and she said, 'All this happened for a reason; you know why?' And we go, 'Well, why,' [and she said,] 'Because something good is going to happen,'" Sanchez said.
