Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Things











Our local news has been covering the fire in South Lake Tahoe. I find it to be devastating and heartbreaking. The news showed people running to their homes, shoving their vehicles full of their belongings. I can not get the look on their faces out of my head. I thought to myself, 'What would we do? What would we take? Where would we go? What would happen to us?' I have been walking through my home, thinking of all the memories, filling it with things that we love and the stories behind a lot of these items. I know that these things that we fill our home with are just that, "things." Some of them handed down through generations.... some not. What these people fleeing their homes must have felt, having to make a decision on what to take and leave behind. I know the bottom line is that items can be replaced and people can rebuild and life outweighs things by a huge long shot. In today's newspaper, it showed a woman sitting in the ashes of where her home once was, holding what was left of her mothers china. She was crying. My heart just goes out to them.
Note~ link
As of tonight there has been 3,100 acres burned and 200 homes destroyed.

15 comments:

  1. I was thinking the same thing! I, too keep thinking who is starting all these fires!!!?? I'm scared terrorists will get the idea, we have lots of forests! It is sooOOOoo sad though! So many people without a home!!! YOU have lots of pretties, that's for sure!

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  2. This fire has felt way too close to home hasn't it, Angela? Deeply disturbing event.

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  3. fires I saw one last night on the side of the freeway on my way to ceres as I was picking up kaitlyn
    it astonishes me just how fast it can devastate peoples lives, I just keep all those people involved in my prayers.
    you do have lot's of pretty things.

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  4. It's been on the news here also. And I've wondered about the same thing you did. Those people have been on my mind..

    xo

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  5. When you lose your home, you lose your heart. I'm always reminded of the John Steinbeck scene where the work worn woman approaches her husband and feels the world lost because she see that final defeat in his eyes. Now, she knows she is the one, who must hold it together and let him lean on her strength. But she has none...still she finds it somewhere and they head to CA.

    Losing things is sad, losing 'ourself' is beyond grief.

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  6. This is so sad Angela...I too have felt so awful about this...and thought the same thing as you...What would I take???? what would we do?????? On Monday I could smell the smoke....my heart is so sad for all the people!

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  7. Fire is so devastating. I can't even begin to know what those people must be feeling right now. I know there are things I have that would make me sad to lose but you're right....they are just THINGS. Life is the important thing to hold on to.

    I love all your things.

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  8. First thing that always comes to mind when I see something like this is the worry that my daughter will get lost looking for her dog if they were to get separated. It's such a frightening thought. My prayers go out to all those families.

    *I do have to mention that I LOVE that stained glass window!

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  9. The fire is awful, the loss is so sad. I don't know what I would try to save. I would like to think that as long as my family was safe, everything else was irrelevant. But I'm sure afterwards there would be something that I longed for and couldn't replace. Let's hope the fires are soon under control.

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  10. Oh Angela, I've been thinking the same thing too. Walking through my home...seeing my things, what is important and what isn't. In reality it's just "stuff", but when that stuff has part of your life interwoven into it, it becomes precious stuff!
    My prayer and throughts have been continually with these dear ones who have lost everything.

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  11. How terrible.
    My heart goes out to the people there. ...

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  12. To lose one's home.
    one's safety
    security
    the one place
    that is their own.
    Mementos
    souvenirs
    photos
    bank statement, birth certificates,
    a penny
    a first tooth
    an old book.
    The love letter.
    The measuring stick
    the worn shoe
    a stuffed animal under the bed.
    the whispers, the giggles, the morning light.
    Losing ones home
    is painful.

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  13. so devastating the way fire can destroy ... sigh ... i have often thought about what i would take if that happened to me and i suppose in the end, so long as we were all okay that would be enough but how heartbreaking ... sigh

    you have such beautiful 'things' my dear and i'm sure they are filled with beautiful memories and thought ... xoxox

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  14. We live in hurricane country. We keep all of our important papers, photographs, and a few personal treasures each in safe, easy to reach places. So we can get out if we need to and have the things we would want most to keep.

    We've left the state for some hurricanes and stayed through others. It's never an easy choice to go, and if so, what to take. But we stay as ready as we can.

    I can hardly watch things like that on the news.

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