What?

What Would You Grab? 

Sunday night Bunny and I decided to go to dinner. First we headed to the restaurant at the bottom of the hill. Closed. At 7:15pm.

Okay, we'll just drive into town.

Almost into town we notice smoke billowing into the air.   Around the curve and past the McDonald's we realize the smoke is coming from a neighborhood right off the highway.

Pulling into a hotel parking lot we could see flames leaping from a roof across the way. Firetrucks were everywhere, police had the roads blocked, people were standing and staring, all while a house collapsed into itself in a puff of cinders and flames.

The view from the highway.

It's a small town. Everyone standing around seemed to know whose house it was, how the fire started (chimney fire), how long it took them to get out of the house with their treasures (30 minutes) and what they were doing as their house burned (watching).

Photo credit: Brian McCabe/ The Mountain Mail

After a few minutes of rubbernecking,  we headed on to our second choice in dining establishments. Closed.
Again we were just a few minutes too late. (Too late being 8:00pm on a Sunday night.)

Third times a charm and so was our third choice.

After ordering I asked Bunny "If our house were on fire, what would you grab?"

It's one of those questions you think about occasionally but not too hard. Because if you think about it too seriously, you are acknowledging that this is something that might actually happen. And no one wants that. So let's just not think about it and then we won't have to deal with it.

Bunny, being 17, thought for a minute and then said "Well, it's not like I have a lot of treasures. I don't know."

We both agreed the animals first. The cats might be a challenge. Would they hide? Or come running?
Ruby, the chinchilla, has wheels on her cage- she'd be out in a flash. The turtles could be scooped out of their tank quickly, too. I assume Carlos would be smart enough to come when called.

Ruby. She's a treasure.

And then what?

For me, my first thought is the picture of my father when he was one. It's almost life sized, framed with a convex glass over it. A hand tinted photograph. It was taken when he was one and had entered a baby beauty contest. That would make this photo and frame 91 years old. I have had it hanging in every apartment and house since I was maybe 20. Rescued it from my parent's attic.

The photo albums. Because even though it is on my list, I haven't digitalized all my photos yet. Mostly because they are in Texas and I am in Colorado.
(I guess we were both thinking of what to save from Texas at this point, since that is where all the photos are.)

Bunny said she would help me save my jewelry. Mostly because she has her eyes on some of it. (Like the earrings of mine she wore Saturday night to prom, possibly.)  I want my grandmother's sapphire and diamond wedding rings. But the good stuff is in the wall safe which requires a combination stored in one room and a key stored in another.  That safe is supposed to be fireproof. All the important papers are in there, too. Do I trust it?   Can't imagine anything surviving a fire like we saw Sunday night. But also can't imagine running from room to room and then still having the presence of mind to carefully dial a combination and jiggle open a door while fire is spreading around me. Let's just hope that safe really is fireproof.

And I would want the sterling silver flatware, formerly belonging to friends of the family and purchased from their estate. When I got married it was the silver I imagined but couldn't find. A few months into wedded bliss, the friend passed and the silver was to be sold to endow a scholarship. Unfortunately it was monogrammed which greatly reduced its resale value. Fortunately it was monogrammed with my new initial. We've been together ever since.

Beautiful sterling flatware. 

Love the silver goblets, also.

Have to grab those too?

But this has me running all over the house, scouring the hiding places and frantically unlocking things.  Not exactly following that "Get out and don't go back in" rule.  And would I remember my treasures or just grab whatever was handy? I hope I never have to find out.

So, what would you save?

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And.... after writing this I realized...duh!.. first grab the computer, the iPad and my purse.  Between those three items I have most of my life. And the kid's lives. And the household info. And Lord knows what else.
Then I'd grab the other good stuff.