What Would You Leave Behind?

Originally Written Between 2016-2017             

 

Every day, I turn on Channel 5 and at 7:00am, Good Morning, America for the local and national news.  And, almost every day, the breaking news just happens to be about the weather – record-breaking snowstorms in the East – and then again the next day – record-breaking snowstorms in the East.  I’ve lost count as to how many records were broken.  All I can say is that I’m glad I live in Minnesota where we know we get snow and already know how to deal with it.

 

Other weather-related disasters hit the news just these last couple of days:  A huge (and probably record-breaking) earthquake in Napal.  Followed by the horrendous avalanche on Mt. Everest.  And – tornados – devastating entire towns along their paths.  

 

And, how could I forget all the flooding out East and, ironically, the drought conditions out West.  The forest fire season is now upon us and it seems as if a new fire pops up almost every day.  And now, here is the reason I’m writing today.

 

On Saturday night, around 6pm, Norm and I had just left a restaurant on the corner of Coon Rapids Blvd. and Pheasant Ridge St.  As we turned right onto Pheasant Ridge to go home (we live in the townhomes behind the Pheasant Ridge Park), we noticed a huge balloon of black – and I mean black – smoke coming from the park.  The flames were very high and frightening.  Naturally, we joined the line of gawkers moving very slowly to get a good view of the fire.  It sure looked like the fire was not under control and all of a sudden, it dawned on me that our house was possibly in danger.

 

I drove home and purposely parked outside our garage – explaining to Norm that the power in our home may go out, the garage door opener wouldn’t work then, and we wouldn’t be able to leave the house in our car.  Brilliant, right?

 

Back in our home, we could watch the fire from our back deck.  I have to admit that the fire wasn’t as close as I thought it would be; but we could see the flames inching toward us.

 

Since we could smell and see the smoke, my first thought was:  What do I bring with me in case we have to evacuate?  I remember my sister, Joanne, who lives in Florida, calling me several years ago while she and her husband, Chuck, were evacuating their home because of a fire threatening the whole town.  I found out later that she packed several portraits painted by Chuck’s grandfather.   They were worth a lot since he was a very famous painter in Russia.  

 

So….. here I am.  In that same situation.  Well, okay, the whole town is not burning down.  No official told us to evacuate.  It’s just Norm and me.  I didn’t have two little boys running around finding their treasurers to bring with them.  

 

While we never really had to collect our belongings and hightail it out of our home, I mentally made my list.  Looking around each room, my list finally consisted of three things:  my iPhone, my computer, and our small safe that contains all of our important papers.  We keep the titles to our cars in that safe.  I think that’s worth saving.   Of course, I don’t know if I really need our marriage license.  But, it’s in the safe and I sure don’t want to go through each item and make a decision as to what to keep. As far as pictures go, I figured I could always get copies from my kids or from the iCloud.

 

Even insurance papers – we know who our agent is.  He would have our insurance records.  Jewelry?  Well, I may lose some sentimental jewelry from my mom or grandmother, but I don’t think I would really have time to sort through all my stuff before I left.

 

Stuff.  I guess it boils down to that.  It’s just stuff.  Stuff can be replaced.  People cannot be replaced.  I think I would still bring my iPhone since my contact list and phone numbers would be available to me.  I’d still bring my computer since I have all my stories on file.  And, I would still bring my safe.  But, if I didn’t have the time or couldn’t access those items, I think I would be okay.  Like I said, stuff can be replaced.  Lives cannot.