Daily Prompt: Burning down the house

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Burning Down the House.”

The house is burning; all people and animals are safe and you can grab 5 things.  What do you grab?

The first thing I would grab is my bible.  It’s not that I couldn’t easily purchase another, but I am somewhat attached to the one I use on a daily basis.  I am sure it would bring me great comfort.

Photos and my Shutterfly photo books would be important, especially the older ones that haven’t been scanned and stored electronically.  When I have spoken with people who lost a home in a fire or natural disaster, one of the things they miss are the the photographs, the snapshots in time of a precious memory.

My journals are irreplaceable and something I have always wanted to leave behind for my girls when I’m gone so they could have an even better understanding of who I am and why I made the choices that I have.  They are many and scattered.  Hmm, maybe I need to rethink their storage.

My mother’s journal would also have to go with me because it is all I have left of her, as far as material things go, that resonates with her voice and her passion.  I love to look at her cursive handwriting and read her deepest thoughts.

I guess lastly and in a more practical sense, my purse.  It would contain my wallet and phone which would likely benefit me in the days ahead as I work to get my life back to normal.

I’m  not someone who has a great attachment to material things.  I throw away more than I keep.  My kids will tell you that I kept “samples” of their artwork, but I’m not the mom who has every thing they ever did.  I don’t have love notes from high school or pressed flowers or the first tooth I or my girls ever lost.  I do have a collection of special items that allow me trips down memory lane, but I probably don’t experience the same cluttered journey of a pack rat.  Sometimes I regret this, but not often enough to change my ways.

It’s hard to know what items you would really miss, because it’s all the little things that make the house a home.  As long as I had my faith and my husband (and of course my kids although they are grown and gone), we could start over anywhere and with anything and be happy.