for the most part, the fires raging california are slowing dying out... thank heavens! living in orange county, the santiago fire has had a definite effect on us, friends & loved ones. as i've mentioned before, our neighborhood was one of the many areas evacuated. luckily, we weren't home & didn't have to deal with that ordeal. although it definitely got me thinking... if i had to evacuate what would i take? to be honest, not much. i'm happy to report that i realize that most of the stuff in our house is just that - stuff. really the most important thing, for me, are memories. and as oscar wilde once said:
memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.everything else is totally replaceable & for the most part, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to lose it. yet there are a few things i would definitely grab in a hurry. (so listen up! especially those of you who live close by. because as most of you know, we've been out of town for the last two fires. both of which get awfully close. so if another fires comes & we aren't here, feel free to barge it & grab some things.)
when i think about evacuating, the first thing that comes to mind is our upstairs hallway, probably my favorite "room" in our house. not because it has beautiful design, or incredible architecture, but because that's where we hang all of our photographs. cesare pavese once said:
we do not remember days; we remember moments.each of the photos hanging there represent one of these precious moments. on one side of the hall you'll find framed snapshots of friends, family & places we love. on the remaining walls, hang pictures of the boys. each of these pictures, taken by ana brandt, document their growth & change over the first year of their young lives. luckily, these moments are one of the few things that can't be physically taken from us. however, our photographs are wonderful, because they provide something tangible to associate with these memories. (click on pictures to enlarge.)
so, after grabbing all our portraits off the wall, the next thing i would grab is our external hard drive. just about every other photo i have ever taken is stored there. (not only all of our recent digital pics, but all of the older pictures that we have scanned in as well.) & finally i'd make sure to get our wedding album. (so any one who is out there reading... if there's an emergency situation at my house & i happen to not be around, here's your checklist of things to grab: boy's portraits, external hard drive & wedding album. you'll be in & out - thanks for watching out for us!) if i had a bit more time (say 30 minutes or so) i'd probably follow THESE suggestions.so in case of disaster, what would you make sure to save? what things are really important to you? is there anything you can't live without?
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12 comments:
I'd be so sad to lose our family videos of when the kids were babies.
The year hurricane Katrina hit, I printed "the most important things in life aren't things" on our Christmas cards. Nothing like a tradgedy to help us see what is really "valuable."
Our home ended up being fine in the storm, although we did have to leave for a week and I have friends who lost everything.
I'm with you - I'd want my pictures 1st.
I know it is just a typo on the Oscar Wilde quote but it gave me a little chuckle---what dairy do I carry about me? Yogurt? Cheese? It's all in the thighs.
On a more serious note...I've been glad to hear that of all the blogs I happen upon, most everyone is safe and even if their houses weren't, they had time to get those things that mean the most to them.
I love that you welcome others to barge in and grab your photos if you aren't around, I can just picture it, breaking a window, running in and grabbing pictures off the wall... but I think that is something to save, we have memories but we forget a lot and photos help us remember. I need to make a back-up of all our digital right now just to have handy.
we evacuated in 2005 when a hurricane was threatening our part of texas. it was the hardest day of my life driving away not knowing if we'd have a home to come home to.
the back of our car was packed with our computer, pictures & videos and the kids favorite toys. a few irreplaceable souvenirs and some clothes to wear, of course. the most shocking thing to me was that our car was far from full. and i was okay with it. it's amazing how few THINGS you actually feel you couldn't live without. very sobering experience, let me tell you. :)
The dogs, our 72 hour kits, my emergency papers binder (which is not yet finished - I need to do that!!!), computer hard drives, as many photo albums as I could fit, my scriptures... I would probably keep throwing stuff in the car until we absolutely had to pull away. I'm a packrat but none of it is essential other than what I listed above.
I lost the pictures of the first year we were married in just the tiniest bit of water damage that happened on our top floor. Since then I have stored my digital pictures on disc and an external site. My cousin uses Snapfish, but I like RitzPix and I understand there are many others.
But, I agree with you Kelly pictures and a few family mementos are really the things that I care about the most.
where's gigi?
like you i would take the pictures...that's what's important...remember
when we were evacuating? i think it was mostly pictures a nd a few clothes...
where's gigi?
like you i would take the pictures...that's what's important...remember
when we were evacuating? i think it was mostly pictures a nd a few clothes...
I'd most certainly grab my Shutterfly scrapbooks because they're small, and the "important documents" file right next to the Shutterfly books. Jason would grab the laptops and external hard drive. Those are the biggies that would help us re-create our life. I have all the boys portraits scanned in as well. So that would probably do it.
Once again, I'm glad your family is safe and you didn't receive any damage to your home.
We almost had to evacuate our house a few years ago and it really does make you realize what is important. I boxed up photos, important documents, and a few family keepsakes so they were ready to throw in the car if needed...that's it.
wow - i have no idea what I would grab first. I have everything, all our personal info on my laptop, so I would definitely grab that. This is something I have to think about...
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