02 February 2012

60 Seconds

There is a line in a movie: "You have sixty seconds. Your house is on fire. What do you take?"

I have thought and thought about this and I just don't even know.

My first impulse was pictures, but how do you choose?  Sweep my arms down the hallway, off the entertainment center,  off the shelves?

Okay, how about the laptop?  No, I use Google for storing stuff so it's not a necessity. Yes, rebuilding Bookmarks is a pain but not worth smoke inhalation.

There are two china cupboards full of heirloom china but there's not a Piece I Can't Live Without.

We have furniture that I love but not the kind of love that will cause me to risk singeing my hair to rescue.

(By the way, the question assumes spouses, children & pets are already safe.)

Finally I realized that in my little effed-up mind that I think I would rather lose everything than to take something then regret that I didn't grab something else. I think it would be worse to realize that I grabbed the jewelry box but wished I'd grabbed my great grandmother's journal. I believe that I would probably forget half the stuff I'd lost almost immediately.  While I love my stuff, it's not that important.

This is not, I feel I must say, an invitation, Dear Universe, to burn down my house.

Your turn: what would you take?

2 comments:

Swistle said...

I love/hate that kind of question: it's so interesting to think of it---and it stresses me out to think of it! I think I would want my own journals, the ones since my first pregnancy began, and the photo albums of photos taken before we went digital and started storing photos online.

Sarah said...

You know, I read your question and pondered it for a moment before I read your post. At the end of the day, I don't think there is anything in my house, absent spouse, kids, pets as you say, that I would risk my life to rescue...