After a lot of back and forth and speculation about what had survived and what hadn't, we received our things yesterday. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't an easy day. As we opened some boxes, we had a big sigh of relief and others, we just held our breathe and bit our tongues as we thumbed through the remnants of things we used to value that were now pretty much destroyed.
I think one of the hardest things for me aside from scraping through washed out mildew stained photos and albums was when I started to realize all the things that were just totally gone: all my paintings, personalized gifts from Get On The Bus, wedding albums, my scrapbooks for my bachelorette party and shower, which took me hours to make and priceless candid shots from our reception of all our guests, including some who are no longer with us. It's funny because monetary value these things are worth almost nothing in comparison to all the furniture and kitchen appliances we lost, but the loss is much greater.
As we sauntered back into the house after doing this for most of the day, I noticed a couple of boxes off to the side. Joe picked them up and said, "I thought you might want to take a look at these."
While I was gone, he found a pair of brand new running shoes that I bought right before we left. He also found all the parting gifts Get On The Bus gave me which included a hand made book with personal notes from each one of my colleagues, a wind up fire breathing nun and a note from my own parents telling me how happy they were to have me live closer and how proud they were of who I turned out to be. Well, you know me, I couldn't help but start crying. I was almost positive that none of this stuff had made it.
Although I really wish this story had a happier ending, I am grateful for all that was salvaged. I also needed to blog about this because it seems that the man upstairs is trying to tell me something. He saved my running gear and my Get On The Bus stuff. This blog just happens to be called "runningtogetonthebus". After I left, I have been contemplating what to do with my blog? I think the answer is now quite clear, don't you?
I'm glad there were at least some postives. Since your ordeal, I've thought about how I would feel if essentially all my things were gone. A group in my church is doing a study around simplifying our lives, and focusing less on posessions. My American Lit class read "Upon the Burning Of Our House" by Anne Bradstreet today, which I thought of when I read your blog. While it is the truth, it would still be really hard not to grieve about my treasures being gone. I sense that you recognize that you didn't lose the things that matter the most in your life, so I hope that gives you some comfort. Audrey (Emily's mom)
ReplyDeleteAudrey, sometimes it is difficult to understand what God has in store for us when things like this happen. I do know one thing though- Through all of it, I have learned the gift of grace and friendship. You will be receiving a thank you note from us very soon (if it hasn't arrived yet), but what you and your family did for Joe and I really brought us to tears. Thank you so much for thinking of us!!!! We so appreciate it and appreciate the friendship that we have with Emily!!!
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